Infinite Stratos: Shadow's Wing
by RafaleRevive524
Summary: What if Ichika wasn't the only male IS pilot after all? Several months into the school year and a second male case had come into the school, and once again the academy turns its head. Donning a midnight black unit, how will this boy affect the future of IS development?
1. Author's Note

Before I start, I'd like to inform you readers of what to expect in this fanfic.

Now this fanfic runs parallel to the LN, meaning it will follow the series. Events are taken from the anime adaptation as well as the light novel and modified to accommodate my OCs, as well as having several original events throughout. Furthermore, if you were expecting loads of... Ecchi... then you might be disappointed as I have toned down the level of ecchi to accommodate younger readers, if any. Also, expect some references from other series and animes. Not enough to make this a crossover, but there nonetheless.

Please take note that this is indeed my first ever fanfic, and that constructive criticism is always welcome as to knowing where to improve. Story wise, it may be a bit rushed though... I am trying to write in the Light Novel style and it's my first time at that too... heheh ^^;;

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this fic,

RafaleRevive524

P.S: If my OCs all seems a bit OP at first, don't worry. That's just my style of writing- show their strengths, and develop their character over the chapters.

P.P.S: I suck at naming chapters .


	2. Arrival

The boy sighed as he looked out the train's window, watching the lights across the sea dim and glow as the city prepared itself for the night. He knew that the little lights dashing about were cars driven by husbands returning late from their work or buses going on their last trip around town, and he knew that soon enough, the little lights would cease to exist for the next eight or so hours, which would mean that in all probability, the students where he was heading to right now would be in their dorms, settling down for the night.  
He sighed.  
_I should be arriving there soon.  
_He stood up, grabbing his camping bag as he moved closer to the train's door, holding on to the railing as he waited for the train to stop.  
_Ichika Orimura, huh?_

He tried to remember the boy who had been his friend during middle school, the boy who was now known as the only male IS pilot alive. Their friendship had started awry but as time progressed, they'd grown to become good friends and when news came that Ichika had become the first male IS pilot, he was glad for his friend as he thought that now, his friend would be able to obtain the power he always wanted to have in order to protect his friends. He smiled slightly.  
"I just hope that our friendship has at least remained."  
He heard a slight puff of air as he felt the train slowly come to a stop, tightening his grip on the railing as he leaned slightly from the g-force effect. Only when the train completely stopped and the doors opened with a hiss did he let go, stepping out to the station and looking to the distance, taking in the sight of the academy that he had been transferred to. He took one long breath and finally walked towards the entrance to the IS Academy.

"Samuel Blackburn huh…"  
The black haired woman wearing a female suit that ended in a short skirt stared at the data of the new arrival shown on her screen. The photo was blurred, oddly enough, but according to the data, the student was a male.. She'd been passing by the main building when the receptionist had told her that she would be having a new student transfer into the class. And now, as she looked at the information page of the boy, she racked her mind as to where she'd heard the name before. Cutting short her thoughts was the hiss notifying the door to the building opening.  
_Ah…  
_She looked up and saw the figure standing by the doorway, looking at a piece of paper in his hand whilst carrying a large camping pack on his back. Her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered. It was back when Ichika was still in middle school. She'd been called in by the school due to Ichika having been in a fight and she remembered that alongside her and her brother, there'd been one boy who'd been with his uncle. Apparently, the two of them had fought against several other kids after school and was caught by the teacher. Since then though, she'd remembered that her brother had hung out with him and two others, Dan Gotanda and Kazuma Mitarashi.  
"It's you…"

The boy looked up, and by the looks of it, he recognized her.  
"C-Chifuyu-san?"

* * *

"Morning already?"  
Ichika mumbled sleepily as he slowly woke up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He glanced at the clock on his wall- 6:10 AM- and closed his eyes again. He didn't want to get up just yet.  
"Five more minutes…" he mumbled sleepily.  
That was when he felt it.  
Eh…?  
There was something snuggled up beside him, something smooth and soft. He didn't know what it was but he found that the feeling was great when combined with the comfort of the bed.  
"Mn…"  
A female voice.  
_Wait… hold on…_  
His eyes flew open as the voice registered in his brain.  
_Just. One. Moment._  
He tried to make sense of what was happening when he heard the voice again, soft and feminine. The voice sank in and, suddenly realizing what it was, he threw open the blanket.  
And found himself facing a naked Laura.  
"LA-LA-LAURA!"  
His sudden scream woke up the girl lying down beside him and she sat up, rubbing her eyes in a way that made her look like a child.  
"Mn… what? Morning already?" she mumbled softly.  
"I-IDIOT! HIDE THEM!"  
"Huh…? You're saying such weird things Ichika. I heard that in Japan, couples don't hide things from each other."  
"Maybe you're right…" Ichika mumbled, the notion suddenly putting a thought into his mind. But realization dawned upon him and he quickly recovered. "NO! HURRY UP AND PUT ON SOME CLOTHES ALREADY!"  
Ignoring the chaos caused by the flustered Ichika, Laura rubbed her eyes once more and put on her regular expression again. Waking up like that wasn't something that many could do, but this was Laura Bodewig, leader of the Schwarzer Haze IS Corps of the German Military- doing such a thing was nothing compared to what she went through during training.  
"But I heard that this manner of waking up is common, isn't it?" she questioned, tilting her head slightly to one side. "It's said that engaged couples do this."  
"Who's the bastard feeding you this wrong info?"  
"Hmm? But it seems to have an instant effect…"  
Seeing Ichika's confused face, she asked. "Are you awake now?"  
"Damn right I am…" was the reply.  
An awkward silence descended on the room as Ichika wondered what to do next in order to stop the girl who sat naked before him, covered only by his blanket.  
"Y-you're telling me to cover them," Laura said suddenly. "But you seem to be enjoying it… aren't you?"  
The sudden question flustered Ichika as he struggled to find an answer. The best he could come up with was a denial.  
"The- Then… do you want to look?" Laura asked, suddenly throwing the blanket surrounding her.  
Seeing this, Ichika instantly lunged at her, intending to get the blanket and cover her up once more, but Laura instantly caught his arm and twisted it, putting him into an arm lock. Ichika struggled against the silver haired girl as he tried to pull his arm out, but the lock was tight and he wasn't able to do anything.

Clack.

"Eh…"  
The sound registered in Ichika's brain as he realized that the door had been opened.  
"I'm coming in Ichika, hurry up and-"  
The voice was cut off and Ichika saw the girl whom it belonged to. The girl stood there, her long black hair tied into a ponytail that split at the end and her body was well formed- a result of years of training. She held a shinai in her left hand, the one she had used to train just minutes ago, and her face showed an expression of pure surprise.  
"ICHIKA! WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU BASTARD?!"  
Seeing Ichika being held in a lock by a naked Laura and apparently not giving any resistance, Shinonono Houki could only stare aghast at the sight before her. In an instant, she drew out her sword, slashing down at the boy without a moment's hesitation.  
"GAHHHH!"  
The scream of a boy resounded throughout the entire dormitory.

* * *

Ichika sighed as he rubbed his head where Houki's sword had hit. The fight had lasted for a few minutes until the assistant homeroom teacher, Yamada Maya, had frantically ran into the room. But even then, he wondered how many times he'd been hit and saved by Laura, who'd partially deployed her IS in order to use the AIC and stop most of Houki's attacks.  
He sighed again.

_What a way to start the morning.  
_He glanced at the two girls who sat across him, both of them eating their breakfast. Needless to say, there was an awkward silence between the three of them. He quickly glanced at what the other two was eating, Laura with her bread, corn soup and chicken and Houki with her traditional Japanese set, as he scooped rice with his chopsticks, quickly putting it into his mouth before following up with the grilled fish that was the staple of the set.  
"Hm? Do you want it?" Laura asked, noticing Ichika's glance. "I'll share some with you… if you want."  
With that, she picked the bread up with her mouth and leaned in closer to Ichika.  
"What's wrong? You can bite it you know?" she said, her voice slightly muffled by the bread in her mouth.  
"I-IDIOT! WHO CAN EAT LIKE THIS? THIS IS JUST LIKE KIS-"  
He was cut off by the loud bang of the table being slammed, followed by Houki's voice saying "Could you please be more quiet when eating?"  
There was a rather terrifying smile on her face as she said that, the edges of her lips twitching slightly at the thought of Laura kissing Ichika again, just like she did a few days after the Valkyrie Trace incident right in front of the class.  
"Are you jealous?" Laura jabbed, her tone more than slightly mocking the black haired girl. "You're envious because you couldn't do it, right?"  
At that, Houki's face turned red as she suddenly took a large gulp of her miso soup, reaching out at Ichika and hoping to be able to feed him with her mouth.  
Why can't I just eat my breakfast normally? he thought as he tried to tell Houki to stop by using his eyes. But his thoughts were cut short by a familiar voice.  
"WAH! I'M LATE!"  
It was Charlotte. Quite odd, considering that she was almost always the most punctual student that he knew. He watched as she quickly ran in and took one of the last available sets before raising his hand.  
"Yo, Charlotte."  
"Ah, Ichika. G-Good morning."  
He waved at her to come sit next to him as he thought of the- almost nonexistent- chances that she would turn up late for anything, and looking at the clock on the wall of the cafeteria, he knew that she would be late if she didn't finish it up quickly.  
"What's wrong? Did you oversleep?"  
"Y-yeah… a bit… well, too much… but that's because… I went back to sleep."  
The last bit was mumbled out so that only Charlotte could hear it, meaning that even if he asked her, Charlotte wouldn't tell him what she said.  
"A-ahh, anyway."  
With that, she hurriedly ate the food on her tray.  
"I-Ichika? You're staring at me. I-is my hair messy or something?"  
"A-ahh, no it's not that," he replied. "It's just that I'm so used to seeing you wearing guy's clothes in the past that seeing you wearing girl's clothes is quite refreshing. You look cute like this."  
After hearing those words, Charlotte immediately blushed and continued eating, and within a few minutes, she was done.  
Just as the prep bell rang.

_Hmm… the prep bell?_

"UWAAH! IT'S THE BELL!"  
Ichika frantically stood up from the table, but thought that something was off. He looked around and found that all three of the girls had already ran off from the table.  
"D-DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND YOU GUYS! I REMEMBER IT'S CHIFU- ORIMURA-SENSEI'S SHR!"  
He hurriedly ran towards the tray collection table and placed down his tray, chasing after the girls in the process. He quickly ran out of the cafeteria, following the three of them towards the main school building.  
"I don't want to die."  
"Me neither."  
"Sorry Ichika."  
Houki, Laura and Charlotte said respectively as they ran around the corner towards the main door to the school building, and by the time Ichika had arrived, all three of them were gone.  
_Ahh dammit.  
_Hurriedly putting on his indoor shoes, he suddenly heard a voice beside him.  
"Hurry up, Ichika!"  
And before he knew it, his hand was grabbed by Charlotte.  
"I'm flying off!"  
"Huh?"  
Just when he was about to ask what she meant by "flying off", Charlotte deployed the leg and back parts of her Revive, activating the thrusters and quickly flying through the corridor towards their class. Everything around him flashed by in a blur and soon enough, they stopped.  
"We're here."  
He quickly regained his footing as Charlotte undeployed her IS, opening the door… and looking straight at their homeroom teacher who was already inside the classroom even before the official bell rung. He glanced at the girl who stood beside him and saw her face turn blue with fear.  
"This school is established as an institute to develop IS pilots…" Chifuyu began as she approached the both of them. "However…"

BAM  
She smacked both of them in the head with the attendance book.  
"You are not allowed to deploy your IS without official permission, even when you're in school, understood?"  
"Ye-yes… I'm sorry," both of them replied timidly.  
Seeing the honour student, Charlotte, doing something that broke the rules really did shock the other classmates as they all stared, remaining dumbstruck, and during the commotion, both Houki and Laura took the chance to slip in and snuck into their seats.  
_I guess they don't intend to help us.  
_"Dunois, Orimura, after school you are to stay behind and clean the classroom," Chifuyu's voice cut through Ichika's train of thought. "If there's a second time, both of you are writing a letter of reflection and live in the special classroom. Do I make myself clear?"  
"Yes…"  
As the both of them got to their seats, the assistant homeroom teacher, Yamada-sensei, entered the class.  
"Good morning everyone," she said in her usual, happy voice. But her face soon turned into a slightly awkward expression as she looked at the students. "Umm… Today, I'll be introducing yet another transfer student to our class."  
There was no response.

"Umm… You may come in now."

* * *

Outside, waiting in the hallway, Sam began to move, practicing several of his fighting techniques as he attempted to shake off the nervous feeling. He was now wearing the male variant of the IS Academy uniform- the white blazer and trousers emblazoned with red and black patterns as well as the blue necktie around his neck.

_One, two, one two three four!_ he yelled in his mind, his body moving in rhythm to his thoughts. He wondered how to introduce himself and wondered how his classmates would react as he punched and kicked the air, warming up his muscles and slowly dissipating his nervousness through his actions.

"Umm… you may come in now."

He didn't hear Yamada-sensei's voice and continued to move, continuing his routine as he kicked the air several times. He heard the door open and a voice all too familiar came into his ears.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing? Yamada-sensei's called you twice already."  
It was Chifuyu. Having lost her patience, she'd stuck her head out the door and watched as he twisted his body and unleash several arcing kicks at the air.

"Ahh, sorry… I didn't hear her."

With that. he stopped and slowed his breathing before finally walking into the class.

As the class awaited the entrance of the new students, several of the girls had already begun to gossip, wondering what the new student would be like.

"It's probably another representative candidate," Ichika heard one of the students. "But it's quite odd isn't it? Having so many candidates in one class I mean."  
"Yeah, it would be, but so far we've only had candidates as our transfers. Well except for Luna"

"Hey, hey, maybe it's another boy!" he heard another.

"Impossible. If it was a boy, then wouldn't we have heard it in the news?"

Discussions like those were rapidly becoming widespread throughout the class, and personally, Ichika couldn't really care less what kind of person the new student would be, whether she was a candidate or not. He only hoped that he wouldn't be on awkward ground with her, or with any other student for that matter. He watched as his sister suddenly lean out the door and return to her position mere moments later, the door closing again.

"Alright all of you, settle down."

Moments after that, the door reopened and the new student walked in.

And everyone in the class was shocked.

And that was because, like the time when Charlotte first transferred (back then, as Charles), the student was a guy.


	3. Deja Vu?

"Go on, introduce yourself."  
Chifuyu's tone was cold and commanding. It seems that he'd somehow angered her already. For Ichika, however, seeing the face that he hadn't seen for several months made him quite happy. Last he'd remembered of the student who now stood in front of the class was just after finishing middle school, and the last he'd heard was that he was heading to France. He never expected to meet him in this school of all places. He watched as the boy simply nodded in Chifuyu's direction before straightening himself.

"My name is Samuel Blackburn, nice to meet you all."

He bowed down in a butler-like fashion to the class.

Huh, same as always, Ichika thought, smiling at Sam who was straightening himself up again.  
"And no, I am not a full blood American. I'm partly Asian too," he added with a smile.

"A… a guy? I'm not seeing things right? He's a real guy… right?"

Looking at the black haired boy in front of the class, several of the girls began to murmur to each other as others began to examine his body. It was well built, slim if anything, and definitely that of a male. The black hair that was slightly spiked gave off an aura of a possible delinquent, and the scar on his right cheek further enhanced the image. But his mannerisms said otherwise.

"Huh? Oh yes. I am a guy."

"WHAT? NO WAY!"

The classroom suddenly erupted into yells and screams, and whatever was being said could probably be heard from the outside.

"A MALE STUDENT! A SECOND (third) MALE STUDENT!"

"AND HE'S IN OUR CLASS (yet again)!"

"AND HE LOOKS LIKE THE KIND YOU CAN LOOK UP TO!"

"OH MY GOD, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALLOWING ME TO LIVE HERE!"

Of course, to Sam who was standing in front of this fiasco, he couldn't help but feel shocked.

Is being a guy here that big of a deal? his face seemed to say, and as he glanced around the class, he made eye contact with the only other boy there. In return, the boy just gave him an awkward smile and Sam couldn't help but start to softly laugh at the expression.

And as for Ichika, who replied to Sam's incredulous look with an awkward expression of his own, he couldn't help but think to himself- What a deja vu...

However, just as he thought that, the grinning Sam suddenly approached him, and of course, just like old times, he instinctively stood up and raised his hand, as if about to slap the other boy.

Sam just smiled and, suddenly stopping his feet, twisted his body, raising his hand as he did so, with Ichika doing likewise.

BAM  
The sound of flesh impacting flesh silenced the class, but the scene that the few who saw what was going on had expected had not been realized. There was no slapped face or anything like that. Instead, both boys were grabbing each other's palms, and without hesitation, were pushing into each other. The latter action brought forth several squeals from the girls in the room, thinking that the two were about to kiss.

Of course, nothing of that sort happened.

Instead, both of them simply bumped their shoulders into each other and pulled away.

"Great to see you, bro."

"It's great to see you too."  
As Sam and Ichika said that respectively, they grinned at each other like long-lost brothers, which was odd considering that they hadn't seen each other in only roughly four months.

"Orimura, make sure you take care of him. You both are gonna be room mates from today on, and he still needs to orient himself with the place."

"Got it," Ichika replied curtly.

"Ahem, homeroom will end now. Everyone will need to change as we'll be doing IS practice together with Class 2. Meet up in Arena 6. Dismissed."

Chifuyu clapped her hands and dismissed everyone, who instantaneously began to pull their folded IS suits out.

"Sam, let's get outta here first."

He nodded and Ichika quickly let go of his hand, walking out of the classroom and into the corridor.

"Lemme guess, we're gonna have to do this every time we have a practical?"  
Ichika nodded simply at that. It seems that Sam's mind was still as sharp as ever.

"Anyway, follow m-"  
"HE'S HERE! EVERYONE, THE TRANSFER STUDENT IS HERE!"

"AND HE'S WITH ORIMURA-KUN TOO!"

The voices of several girls suddenly erupted behind them, and both boys froze. Apparently, the ruckus in their classroom had been heard by several others.

"Oh shit…" was all Sam could say before Ichika broke off into a run.  
"What is this? Deja vu?"

With that, they both ran down the corridor full pelt… only to be blocked by more girls emerging from their classrooms.

"THEY'RE HERE! EVERYONE!"

In a split second, girls came out of their classrooms, quickly barricading the pathway.

"OH GOD THIS WAY!"

Ichika suddenly dashed forward, seemingly running towards the wall of girls before suddenly taking a sharp right turn into a conjoining corridor.

"Okay good… NOT GOOD!"

More girls came out of their classrooms, and from behind several of the girls had begun to chase them.

"In here!"

And apparently, Sam had found a good spot to hide for the time being. Quickly turning the corner, Ichika immediately followed Sam, who instantly took another left and hid behind the stairs. Following suit, they waited for a few moments before the girls that were chasing them ran past, several stopping in confusion at the two boys who had suddenly gone missing.

"Why's everyone making such a big deal anyway? I thought they were used to you?"  
Saying this, Sam unglued himself from the wall and gestured for Ichika to lead the way.

"Well… the girls here don't interact with others of the opposite gender... so it's bound to cause a bit of a ruckus."

"You call this a bit?"

Ichika laughed a bit at that and began to walk, taking the corridors that led to the fifth arena's changing room.

"Oh well, at least we lost them."

Walking in silence for the next minute, both of them, under Sam's instruction, ducked underneath the window sills of the classrooms in order to avoid detection, and soon enough, they arrived at their destination. With a slight hiss of depressurization, the airlock door to the changing room opened. Why there was a need for such a thing remained a mystery to Ichika, but he'd grown familiar to the sound, so much so that he began to like it.

"Ahh…"  
Looking at the clock, Ichika let out an involuntary sigh.

"Hurry up and change, we're gonna be late," he warned, but when he looked at Sam, he could see that the other boy was already taking off his own shirt.  
"Dammit, don't just start without saying anything!"

Saying this, Ichika quickly began to change.

"What do you expect me to do? I remember how scary your sister is, and I don't want to die just yet," Sam replied with a slight chuckle. Within moments both boys were done with their change of clothes and were stuffing their uniforms into the lockers.

"Hmm? Is that…?"

This time, it was Ichika.  
"Hmm? Oh, this?" Sam asked back, pointing to the small buckler-like accessory on his left wrist. "It's my personal unit."

The buckler was mostly black in colour with a kite-like shape on the top that had an orange trimming around the edges. On the center of the kite was an orange gem, and near the bottom of the kite were what appeared to be wings extending all the way to just below his elbow. The entire thing was black with orange and white details and was designed so that the wearer could bend his arms easily without having the wing poking their upper arm.

"So, you have one too huh?" Ichika grinned, showing off his own white, blue and yellow bracer.

Sam simply smiled at this and closed his locker, following Ichika out of the changing room and running towards the assigned arena.

"Oh yeah, and your suit… I've seen that design before."

"This?" Sam pulled on the skin tight fabric of his IS Piloting suit. "It's custom made from the Dunois company."

"Dunois huh…"

Noticing Ichika's face turn from inquisitive to somewhat regretful, Sam couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"  
"Huh? Oh it's nothing. Anyway, we're here."  
Entering the arena just in time, both boys dashed towards Class 1's line, quickly taking their positions and standing to attention as they awaited instructions from their teacher, and as the final few girls arrived in the line, Chifuyu instantly spoke up.

"Today we'll first be watching a practical battle that focuses on high speed maneuvering. Samuel, Stella, up front, now."

Without thinking, Sam stepped out of the line and moved to the front, but as he arrived, something occurred to him.

She just called both of us by our first names… teachers aren't normally supposed to do that now are they?

But just as he arrived at the front, a female voice suddenly yelled- "Onii-chan!"

Turning around, he barely had time to react to the girl flying towards him. From the glimpse of her he saw before impact, he could tell that she was physically fit, and not to mention that she had quite a cute face.

That, and she was quite heavy.

"Wha- HEY GET OFF ME!" he yelled as he tried to push the girl off from him. "AND WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY?"

"Eh? You don't remember me?" the girl asked, pouting in the process. From this close, he couldn't help but think of the girl as being cute, coupled with that somewhat childlike voice, he wasn't really able to say much else. But now that he got a good look at her face, he realized just how familiar her face was. It was like looking into a mirror that showed him in another gender.

"A… twin?" he mumbled softly. "I HAVE A TWIN?"

"EHH?"

The reaction of his brought forth a surprised reaction from basically every student in the row right now, and even he could not comprehend what was going on. And strangely enough, even Yamada-sensei had reacted alongside the girls, her face showing an expression of pure shock that was both hilarious yet strangely out of place.

"Alright you two, break it up," Chifuyu suddenly said, pulling the girl off him. "I need you both to deploy your personal ISes and show us what you're capable of."

Seeing Chifuyu grin like that, Sam could feel that something was definitely about to happen. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help but want to know.

"Anyway, Stella, right?" he asked, out of the blue. "Talk to me later. For now, let's just do whatever we're told."  
"Okay, onii-chan!"

With that, Stella closed her eyes and a burst of light engulfed her, and when it subsided, she was floating at least half a meter midair, her crimson coloured suit completely donned. It was a relatively strange design. Her legs were armoured, but it was thin for an IS, and its feet had two large claws on the front end. Her arms were encased in thick armouring that extended part way up her upper arm, and behind her was a central pack that had two handle-like protrusions coming from it. Her headgear resembled a wyvern's ear too. However, what surprised everyone the most was its wings. It had dragon-like wings, complete with skeletal frame and a wing membrane made of light. The "spines" appeared to have holes on the outside- possibly cannons of some sort- and they were focused around a central, orb-like object that acted as a joint for the wing. In her hand, she held a long, two meter sniper rifle that was relatively thick and had a slanted foregrip down the front, right after what appeared to be a solid round clip. Stella suddenly grinned at him and said, "this is my personal unit, [Dragoon Stryker]. What about yours, nii-san?"

Taking it as a challenge, he raised his left hand and placed his palm out, instantly being engulfed in light. When it dissipated, he himself was donned in a midnight black IS. It was clear to the students however, what model this was.

"Isn't that… a [Revive]?"

"So he has a [Revive] too?"

"That's the same suit as Charlotte-san's right?"

Murmurs like those could be heard easily by Sam, whose senses were heightened by the hyper-sensors, but he didn't show any sign of reactions whatsoever. It was true, that his IS was indeed a customized [Rafale Revive], but if one were to look closely, they'd see several major changes. Firstly, the leg armour was thinner and more rounded, giving it a more sleek and aerodynamic look. Also, there were additional leg thrusters clearly visible on the back, and the armouring on the arms were also further rounded. On his waist were armour pieces that guarded the crotch and back, and hanging from them on each side were additional thrusters. Furthermore, the multi-thrusters of the stock [Revive] had been swapped out for two pairs of modified multi-thruster wings which gave increased mobility and maneuverability. Adding onto that were what appeared to be covers on the outermost wings of the suit- they contained a secret weapon that currently, only him and his friend, an IS engineer named Alexandria Ross, knew about. In his hands, he held a pair of twin swords. Both were French sabers, but on the handguard, near the bottom of the blade where it connects to the hilt was what appeared to be dragon wings.

"Ooh, a custom [Rafale Revive] huh? Not a bad choice, Nii-san, but I wonder how you'll keep up with me."

"Don't rush, you fool," Chifuyu's voice stopped the two of them from doing anything more. "Dunois! Orimura! Step forward, both of you."  
Both Ichika and Charlotte stepped forward.

"It's two on two, both of you hurry up and suit up."

Both of them nodded and called their respective ISes out; Ichika with his [Byakushiki] and Charlotte with her [Rafale Revive Custom II].

"Ohh… So I'm not the only one to have a [Revive Custom]..." Sam muttered to himself. And looking at the design, both Revives looked identical, especially with the multi-thruster wings on their backs. However, looking at his opponents again, he realized something.

An orange Revive… isn't that… the ace of aces from the Dunois corporation? The representative candidate of France and daughter of the CEO, Charlotte Dunois?

However, whilst he was caught up in his thoughts, he missed the signal to start, and the next thing he saw was Ichika flying straight towards him, the Yukihira still in its close combat sword form. He barely reacted in time, bringing his left sword up and angling it to deflect the vertical strike that Ichika unleashed on him, redirecting the sword and countering with his other one, slicing horizontally in a graceful show of swordsmanship. Ichika barely managed to evade the blade in time, but it still managed to chip off some of his shields.

"Better stay focused, Nii-san, 'cause here comes the other one!"

Before Sam could even recover, Charlotte had suddenly flanked him and was relentlessly pouring fire at him with her twin submachine guns, [Garm]. He began to move evasively, dodging most of the rounds fired at him as he twisted and turned in his IS, the high mobility settings proving their worth to him

"!"

He suddenly felt something from behind him, like a telepathic warning, and dodged out of the way moments before a remote weapon flashed by his shoulder, followed by three others, all of them flying towards the orange Revive. He saw their shape and instantly looked back at Stella's position, the girl firing her beam sniper rifle at Ichika who was moving quickly along the ground, gaining ground on her position, and noticed that two of the spines on her wing had seemingly grown thinner.

So her IS has BIT weapons huh?

He watched as she fired her weapon in quick succession, deploying the final two BITs as Ichika came within striking range. However, just as he was about to strike, she suddenly pulled back, showing off an amazing speed as she maneuvered in reverse and fired the two BIT weapons. There was the sound of something charging up before it fired, and Sam guessed that the largest BITs were railguns, which explained the cord hanging from either of them. Without thinking, he suddenly turned and flew towards Ichika, who was now chasing after Stella, switching his weapons from the twin blades, [Twin Dragons], into his personalized SMG, [Noir], firing both weapons at Ichika as he kept coming towards Stella. The distraction gave her enough time to switch from her sniper rifle…

into a huge two-edged sword that was as long as she was tall and twice as wide as her body. She struck down at Ichika, who instinctively blocked the strike and took the chance to counter, but before his strike connected, Sam had switched back to his twin blades and attacked, using his right blade to intercept Ichika's sword and stabbing with the other whilst Stella pulled away, deflecting Charlotte's incoming shots with her giant blade and in turn, covering Sam's back. Ichika, who was hit by the stab, suddenly pulled back.

"Argh, that's it!"

Saying that, he suddenly activated the Yukihira Type 2, the energy blade sprouting from the hilt, and Sam instinctively knew that he'd be done for if he was hit.

"Stella, careful of his sword."

"Got it, nii-chan!"

Her cheerful voice somehow lifted his spirits as he switched his weapons into a pair of semi-automatic assault rifles, [Vent], and aimed them past Stella's shoulder at Charlotte, firing a couple of rounds that managed to hit Charlotte's wing but in turn chipped away a bit of Stella's shields. Stella instinctively switched targets again, changing her weapon back to her beam/solid round sniper, [Nova Ray], and firing on the now advancing Ichika whilst Sam took care of Charlotte down below, exchanging fire from their weapons. Ironically, Charlotte had had the same thought and was now using [Vent] against him, several of the high powered rounds managing to hit him in the shoulder and leg, reducing his shield energy considerably.

"!"

That feeling again. Sam instantly spun to his right as five beams suddenly came down on Charlotte, grazing her suit and taking out a considerable chunk of the shield energy, and Sam watched as Charlotte struggled to dodge the incoming BT rounds.

"ICHIKA!"  
She heard her yell, and in an instant, he knew what was about to happen. Activating his thrusters, he switched his weapons into the assault shotgun, [Chasse Rouge], and hoped that he'd make it in time, seeing Ichika, who had previously backed off under the hail of beam rounds suddenly begin charging back in, the blade of his [Yukihira Type 2] bigger than ever.

"STELLA!"

"Eh..?"  
Her reply clearly showed that she was too focused on attempting to take out Charlotte to notice the charging Ichika, and he knew that what was about to happen was also because he reacted far too slowly. Had he began to move in her direction the second that feeling came, he would have probably made it with plenty of time to spare, but now, he doubted it. He focused his thoughts on the thrusters on his pack and did [Ignition Boost], hoping that he'd be able to reach Stella in time.

And he did.

Almost.

Made it! he thought as he pressed the trigger to his weapon, firing a rain of shells at Ichika, most of which hit. But the shot had been fired several milliseconds too late, as by the time he fired, Ichika was mid-swing in a reverse Kesa-giri. The attack connected and Sam saw Stella suddenly getting flung aside, the four BIT weapons automatically reattaching itself onto her wing as she crash landed onto the ground below, her shields depleted.

"Dammit…"

Biting his lips, Sam switched his weapons yet again, his right hand holding one of the two sabers and his left holding a [Noir].

"Looks like I'll have to use that…"

The thought of showing off his ultimate weapon was something that he'd never thought of before- but then again, his friends back in France all knew about it- especially since it's his first day here. But despite him not wanting to do it now, his competitive spirit was getting the better of him.

"First target… The [Revive]."

Without thinking, he activated his thrusters at 75%, the powerful thrusters providing more than enough thrust for a high speed entry, charging straight towards the orange suit that had been aiming her guns at him. As Charlotte squeezed the trigger however, something happened that none of the students had ever seen. Just as the bullets were about to hit, Sam had suddenly become a shadow and moved several meters to the left, dodging the stream, and as Charlotte reacted quickly, training her weapons on him, he'd suddenly become a shadow again, this time moving to the right, before doing it yet again, this time forward, and brutally attacking Charlotte with a horizontal cut. Ichika, who had been following him, had activated [Ignition Boost] and was upon him in an instant, ready to cut him down.

But that was when it happened again.

Sam had suddenly become a floating shadow for a split second and was now right behind Charlotte, and Ichika, who had been in mid-swing, struggled to redirect his attack from hitting his partner.

"Sorry!" he yelled out.

However, by the time he recovered, Sam had already disappeared.

And reappeared right behind him.

Delivering a savage kick, Sam forced his opponent to drop to the ground, but he knew that he wouldn't survive for long considering he'd seen Charlotte aiming at him as he did so and that his shield levels were down to its last dregs. However, he still did it one last time, becoming a shadow and flying side to side in a zig zag before finally arriving at striking range of Charlotte, swinging his body into one last attack.

BOOM

The sound of an explosion rocked his body and he saw his shield finally drop down to zero. He sighed and after stopping his flight, undeployed his IS, landing down and smiling at his two opponents before offering his hand to the girl he'd only met.

"Good match," he smiled, and turned towards Ichika, who was now holding a [Vent] assault rifle in his arms.

The girl before him undeployed her own IS and took his hand, smiling at him in return and saying likewise, before the four participants in battle returned to their original positions. He'd figured out what had happened- as he'd pulled back, Charlotte had thrown her rifle at Ichika, who'd caught it and prepared himself, and as he'd moved forward again, he'd shot him right in the back, taking down the last of his shields.

"Oh well…"

"Alright, that was a good match. Now, the ones with their personal machines are Orimura, Samuel, Alcott, Dunois, Stella, Bodewig and Rin. We'll be splitting the class into groups of 6, the ones with personal machines are the leaders, got it?"

"Get ready"  
Sam heard Ichika whisper to him.

"Because here it comes."

However, before whatever Ichika had been referring to happened, Chifuyu suddenly roared.

"And to avoid the same incident from last time happening again, you are to sort yourselves out according to seating arrangements. Anyone who does it too slowly is to run around the field one hundred times, GOT ME?"

"Y-YES!" the nervous reply of the girls came.

This time however, everyone seemed to be happy with the groups they were in.

"Ahh, I got Orimura-kun!"

"Yes! I got Blackburn-san!"

"Stella-chan? Help me out okay?"

"I'll be in your care, Rin-san… please tell me more about Orimura-kun…"

"I'm with you, Cecilia-san!"

"Bodewig-chan, please teach us what we don't know!"

"Ahh! Charlotte-chan, teach us!"

Huh… what's with all the reactions… Sam thought as he pressed his hand against his head.

"Now that you're sorted, listen up. Each group is to take one training suit. There are three [Revives] and four [Uchiganes]. It's first come, first serve so be fast about it, and remember, today is about flight and maneuvering, so leaders, please follow your team mates and make sure they don't crash." Yamada-sensei announced.

There suddenly seemed to be an electrifying air as the groups began to discuss which training suit they were going to use, and ultimately, it was Sam's group who had the first pick. They chose the [Revive], solely because of the fact that it was close to the model of his personal unit, with Charlotte's group following close behind and picking the same. Ichika's group got an [Uchigane], whereas the last [Revive] was taken by the group led by Cecilia. The others naturally got the only three available [Uchiganes] that were left.

"Alright, all of you are to suit up and do one lap around the track. Don't overexert yourself. Once you're done, quickly switch with the next person and repeat. Before lunch, I want everyone to have at least done a single lap around this track." Yamada-sensei continued.

"Y-Yes!"

"And since everyone needs to use it, we've deactivated the optimizing and format fitting modes."

"Yes!"

As the girls answered in unison, the leaders of the groups quickly deployed their own suits- the white [Byakushiki], the red [Dragoon Stryker], the orange [Revive Custom II], the midnight black [Revive Custom III], the blue suit suitingly named [Blue Tears], the pink [Shenlong] and the black [Schwarzer Roegen]- and began to talk to their groups.

"Alright, first up is-"  
"Me! Name's Sarah Dawning, my hobbies are singing and playing the violin! Nice to meet you!"

With that, she offered her hand to Sam, who stared at her for a second before smiling and saying "No need for the all the extra info, let's get started shall we?"

Although the girl looked a bit sad about her apparent rejection, the sadness was instantly wiped off her face when Sam suddenly carried her princess-style, putting her down on the suit and helping her into the cockpit. She was slightly blushing in shock at the fact that a boy was carrying her in the way that most girls could only dream about, and she couldn't help but ask "W-why?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's because you were spacing out too much and you weren't responding to my calls, so I thought I'd take a more direct action," he explained, smiling in a slightly cheeky manner down at the girl. "Anyway, shall we?"

Having finished settling into the cockpit, Sarah nodded.

"Alright, now, in order to fly, you have to focus in the direction that you wish to fly to. Remember the theory in the books and try to put it to use."

"Y-yes!"

After saying that, Sam slowly levitated off the ground in his suit, guiding the girl as she climbed up at a snail's pace.

"That's good, now faster."

The girl focused, her face visibly scrunching up slightly as she focused on where she wanted to go, and the [Revive] slowly sped up in its ascend.

"Alright, stop. Now, move forward and follow me."

Staying just in front of Sarah, Sam seamlessly moved his unit past the obstacles as him and the girl moved slowly through the track. Behind him, Laura was helping a member of her group too, actually giving instructions this time round, and further still was Rin's group.

"Alright, that's good. Now keep going."

After a while, they finally finished the lap and as Sam helped the girl land, the next student walked up to meet them.  
"Good job," he complimented her as they touched down. "Alright, next person then."

"That's me..." the brunette girl said in a shy tone. "But I can't get into the cockpit…"

At this, Ichika suddenly yelled out.  
"OH MY GOD WHAT IS WITH THIS DEJA VU!"

Was what he yelled right before he was smashed over the head by Chifuyu's attendance book.  
"Just shut up and get back to work," she commanded.

"S-sorry…"

"Anyway, I guess I'll just have to carry you up," Sam said nonchalantly as he looked at the height of the Revive's cockpit. Without hesitation, he picked the girl up and helped her in.  
"A-Ahh… Hikaru-san? Sorry, I didn't realize it was you."

"U-Uhm… it's okay…"  
Sam looked at the girl who had been one of the pilots in the Dunois research center that he'd been in and recalled how close he'd been to her. But he also recalled that she was quite good at high maneuver combat.

"Hey, Hikaru-san, you still got that knack for high speeds you reckon?"

"Umm? Yeah, I-I t-think I still do..."

He grinned at his friend before continuing.

"Then I'm sure that you're still good at this"

"Y-Yeah… I guess…"

"...but I'm still not as good as you…"

The last part was mumbled out so that Sam couldn't hear her, but either way, he grinned at her.

"Then let's go at your fastest, shall we?"

Luna nodded and instantly began to take flight, with Sam following close behind. She was considerably faster than Sarah had been and even though that was to be expected, Sam was impressed by her skill; not many of the pilots that had been in the Dunois research center could fly as well as her in the first place and now, she was even faster than before. They both flew around and over the obstacles smoothly, completing a lap considerably faster than most of the other students.

"You still got it," Sam grinned. "You'd make an amazing pilot if you keep this up. You'd probably be able to beat Lauren soon enough."

And with that, Luna dismounted, hiding her blushing face from him.

* * *

"Alright, so everyone's had their go right?" Sam asked the group. Each member had at least tried the course out five times, each time getting faster as they grew used to controlling the suits, and they'd finished mere minutes before lunch time, and although they could already start packing up their equipment, he couldn't help but ask this.  
"Who wants to see me run this course?"

All of the girls raised their hands.

Sam grinned and mouthed a 'watch me' before taking off. It literally took him three minutes to complete the lap, which was much faster than any of the other girls in the group, all of whom completed it in roughly ten, except for Luna who did it in five, and half the time, he was dodging the obstacles at the very last moment, turning into a shadow before veering off to the side and reemerging. He landed back and grinned at the girls before saying "Alright, let's pack up."

Pushing the IS by himself, the other girls surrounded him as several began to help him transport the suit onto the flatbed, but nonetheless, a question raised in all of them

"By the way, Sam," Sarah asked tentatively. "What is that thing?"  
"What thing?"

"You know, when you suddenly turn into a shadow and reappear somewhere else?"  
"Oh, that? I guess you can call it my special move. I call it [Shadow Vector]."

"But why the shadow?"

"Ah, that I can't tell you, but Hikaru-san knows about it, right?" he said, winking at her in the process. Finally pushing the suit onto the truck, all of them jumped down.

Noticing that Ichika was struggling alone with the IS, Sam immediately ran to his aide, pushing the suit alongside him back into the hangar, after which they immediately dashed back out onto the field, quickly taking their positions in line.

"That's it for morning practice. We need to inspect the machines that were used, so class dismissed."

With that, the group of girls, and two boys, relaxed and went their way.

"Sam, let's head over for lunch!"

He was about to refuse at first, saying that he's got something he needs to take care of first, but upon hearing his stomach growl, he decided against it. After all, it was only voluntary combat training.

"Yeah, lunch sounds good right about now."


	4. The Month Before

The two boys ran into the cafeteria, quickly taking the set lunches that appealed most to them and finding a seat, bringing their trays with them- Sam with his "Sirloin steak set" and Ichika with his "Grilled fish set". Sitting down, Sam instantly clasped his hands in prayer, and Ichika couldn't help but think just how much he remembered the boy who sat before him. Unclasping his hands, he quickly took the knife and fork.

"Itadakimasu!"

"Itadakimasu!"

Both boys dug into their food, eating at their own paces.

Meanwhile, five girls sat at a table relatively far away, staring at the two boys. Two blondes, one silver haired, one brunette and one black haired girl- looking at them from a distance, they seemed an odd bunch.

"Guhh… Who is he and why is he acting all friendly with Ichika?" Rin asked, biting her chopsticks as she spoke.

"Hey… wait a moment… I know him…" she suddenly added, recognition filling her eyes.

"Ehh?" the other four voiced their surprise in unison, staring at Rin with inquisitive eyes.

"Eh- uhm… how to say… he was in the same middle school as me and Ichika…" Rin said, getting slightly scared at how the other girls were staring at her. "Eh… him and Ichika, both of them uhm… how to say… they protected me from several bullies… though it was originally Ichika, the other one just simply joined the fray without thinking… I don't remember his name though..."

"Ahh… so that's why…." Houki muttered.

"His name… I think it was Blackburn?" This time, it was Charlotte.

"It sounds American no matter how you look at it," Cecilia chipped in.

"Maybe it's because he's born to an American dad?" Laura.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about another rival popping up…" And back to Rin.

"Let's just hope he's straight!" Cecilia suddenly said again, drawing strange looks from the other four.

As the four pondered on, Stella casually walked past them towards the table where Sam and Ichika was sitting.

"Onii-chan!"

"Oh… right, Stella," Sam stuttered a bit as he waved for her to sit beside him. "I told you to speak to me in class just now didn't I?"

Looking a bit sheepish, Sam scratched his head a bit.

"Ahh, it's okay onii-chan!" Stella said casually.

"Ahh, hey, Sam, I just remembered," this time, it was Ichika. "Seeing your performance just now, and the fact that you're here means that you must've accidentally activated an IS somewhere right?"

Ichika received no response from Sam, who suddenly appeared to be deep in thought.

"Sam?"  
"Oh, yeah, hey, what's up?"

"You activated an IS too didn't you?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I did," he let out a small, awkward laugh before adding, "accidentally, of course."

"So… how'd it happen?"  
"Happen what?"  
"Activating an IS."  
"Oh… I'll tell you, but I'd much appreciate it if those girls there would stop staring at me like I'm some intruder," he said, pointing at the group of five girls who seemed to be staring at him with murderous intent. Or maybe they were glaring at Stella? Either way, he felt their gazes upon him and was slightly disturbed, although right after pointing at them, they all seemed to hurriedly shift their attention back to food.

"Huh? Them? Nah, they won't do that."  
"You're still as much of a blockhead as last time," Sam continued, placing his face in his palm.  
"...? Anyway.."

Without thinking, Ichika called the five of them over, and they all seemed shock for a moment before picking up their trays and joining the trio on the table. They sat down and stared intently at Sam, waiting for him to make a move.

"Ahh… I guess I haven't introduced myself yet. My name, as I've said before, is Samuel Blackburn. Nice to meet you."

Following him, the silver haired girl started.

"I'm Laura, Laura Bodewig. That is all."

"I'm Cecilia Alcott, the one and only, the England Representative Candidate."

He nodded an acknowledgement at both of them, repeating their names five times in his head and committing it to memory.

"Hehe… you know me right?" This was Rin, who grinned at him and did the v sign with her hand.

"Of course, how can I forget. Huang Lingyin, or Rin, for short," Sam replied, smiling at his childhood friend that had indirectly brought him and Ichika's group of friends together.

"Anyway, moving on, my name is Shinonono, Shinonono Houki. Nice to meet you."

He nodded yet again, and then, his eyes rested on the final girl.

"I'm Charlotte Dunois, nice to meet you," she smiled kindly at him as she said that.

And yet, his response was an awkward expression.

"So… you really are the daughter of the Dunois company CEO…" he murmured. Although he didn't want to be on bad terms with any of them, he couldn't help but feel shocked that the France representative candidate, who was an ace from the Dunois company, was here.

Noticing his reaction, Charlotte gave an inquisitive look, as if to say "what's wrong?", and Sam, who saw this, immediately just smiled and shook his head a bit.  
"Anyway, so tell us, how'd it happen?" Ichika asked, still continuing his questioning.  
"Ahh… I think… that can wait till later" Saying this, he quickly glanced at Charlotte, and a slightly nervous expression could be seen, despite his attempts to hide it.

Picking up on this, Ichika tried to reassure him.  
"Hmm? Oh, Charlotte? No, she won't hurt you."  
"You sure?"  
"Yeap."  
"Very sure?"  
"I'm right here you know…Is it something… to do with the Dunois corporations?" a now restless Charlotte asked.

Without thinking, Sam nodded, confirming her suspicions, and before he knew it, every single girl, and Ichika, were intently staring at him, telling him to go on. All but Charlotte, of course, who looked somewhat scared.

"What's with the way you look, you guys…?"  
"Tell us," Laura's voice was sharp and commanding.  
"Fine fine…"

He cleared his throat and sorted out his memories before finally beginning.

"So, as you'd probably guessed, considering my unit is a Dunois-made one, that I was in France at the time, just about a month ago…"

* * *

"Huh… so it turns out he's gotta get a surgery huh?" Sam wondered aloud, stretching his arms out. He was currently walking around the city of Lyon, nearby the hospital that his uncle was admitted to. His uncle had just moved here and he'd only been packing up the last of his personal items back in Japan when he'd received the call that his uncle had indeed fallen sick. The doctors said something about an inflamed appendix, and although he could chance a guess about what that was, he didn't really care, because knowing his uncle, he'd probably just recover so quickly after the surgery it would probably shock the doctors.

"Huh… so what to do…" he wondered, walking around the city and looking at all the cafes that lined both sides of the streets, as well as the parks and gardens that were there.

And, with nothing else to do, he entered one of the gardens.

The view in France was way different from the view in Japan- despite all the technological advances in the world, there were still plenty of lush green-space filled with plants and trees, and it felt much more natural to him. For the next few hours, he wandered around the park, around all the crevices and nooks and crannies he could find, and was just about to head back when he heard a very small, very faint mechanical noise. Of course, him being quite adventurous, he decided to follow the noise to its source, weaving through the trees and into the dense undergrowth that marked the end of the park. The area was relatively forest-like, with many lush green trees standing high above the ground, and his leg was caught by undergrowth more than once, only his fast reaction and combat training saving him from the falling over his face. By the time he reached the other side though, regardless of how he managed to stop himself from falling, his black jacket and white shirt was muddied.

But what he saw was completely worth it.

The compound looked militarized, with lots of blocky buildings and wide, open spaces in the area. It was guarded by an electric fence on all sides, and he guessed that on the other side of the compound from where he was, there was a security gate. He could see inside several IS suits were being piloted by several females, all of them moving in perfect sync with each other, and he couldn't help but get closer to the fence to have a better look. It was then that he saw through the open hangar door, kneeling in the shadows, was a single unmanned unit, waiting for its pilot. For a while now, he'd always wanted to know how the interior of an IS felt, and he thought that right now, it was his chance to do so. He'd spied a gap in the electric fencing earlier on, probably made by some relatively large animal as it was enough for him to go through if he crawled carefully, and decided to risk it, carefully trekking to the position as he pulled up his hoodie and pulled the sleeves over his palms. He knew it was an extremely risky move, but he expected the circuit would've been broken if there was a hole that big and that his hood would be insulative enough to force the current to go around, but he did it anyway, carefully inching his way through the fence and taking care not to let it make actual contact with him. He felt several sudden stinging pain that lasted for a short while as he pulled his legs through though, so he supposed that the fence did make some contact with him, and after pulling himself through, he dashed towards the open suit, surveying the area at high speeds and making sure that there was no cameras facing him or any other personnel. Satisfied, he jumped in.

And felt a rush of data entering his brain.

It was an odd feeling, it was his first time feeling it, yet, he understood everything, and he knew that it meant one thing.

The IS had activated.

He felt as the IS began to form the holder around his torso, linking his body with the machine, and soon enough, he had control of it, moving the suit around the hangar, dashing left, then right. And he even flew, but what surprised him was just how easy it is for him to do all those things- it's as if the suit was a part of him.

But it wasn't long until the alarm was raised and he found himself held at gunpoint by the security guards- not that he actually saw them, the sensors told him about it. He also knew that several scientists had entered the hangar and that several other [Revives] was also holding him at gunpoint, but he didn't care. With a huge grin on his face, he turned around and raised his hands, showing that he meant no harm.

But the reaction from everyone present surprised him the most.

* * *

It was four days after he had activated the IS by accident, and he was now being held in a containment room within the Dunois research center. Upon surrendering, he'd been told that the scientists wanted to study him- something that he couldn't help but accept on the condition that no news is spread to anyone.

This secret remains here.

Of course, it would prove to be impossible. He knew that. Sooner or later, some word was going to get out.

"Hey, isn't today the day that that old man is supposed to have his surgery?" he wondered out loud, thinking back to his uncle. He hasn't visited ever since the incident- he couldn't visit him even if he wanted to.

He was trapped here in all sense of the word, all because he didn't want any word of his existence to leak out.

For the past few days, they've done several tests on him- namely IS compatibility tests as well as several DNA map retrievals for study- but he hadn't been allowed to do anything much at all.

And oddly enough, he'd been deemed as having an IS compatibility level of A.

Of course, other than the tests, he'd been given his own customized IS piloting suit and assigned a unit to practice in, and what had surprised the veteran pilots was his level of skill. He'd easily dispatched the targets with ease, which several of the veterans had deemed a fluke and demanded a match with him- all of which he easily won due to his already abnormally high reaction speed which, when coupled with the hyper-sensors, gave him an edge over most pilots. This drove several of the pilots to have a rivalry with him, and that had also started his friendship with the others as well. Although he was glad for that, he still did not find living in the center to be something of a comfort.

But after nearly a month, he was finally released.

It was roughly two weeks since he'd been held in custody- his uncle had been discharged from the hospital following a successful operation and an abnormally fast recovery- and he'd been given his own personal IS, which was given to him as a sign of appreciation from the staff and a testament to his skill, though admittedly, it had been the other pilots who'd thought that he deserved his own unit, petitioning that he be allowed to keep the assigned unit for himself and customize it. Alexandria Ross, an Infinite Stratos engineer and researcher who happened to be the big boss of the lab had personally helped him with the customizations, helping him "code" the equipment into the CORE, creating a heavily customized, high mobility suit that was suited for his style of combat. She'd personally developed a special system for him too, which not only increased his suit's overall mobility, but also granted him improved his overall performance- the [Shadow's Veil] propulsion system. It was a system created after learning Sam's habit of dodging at the very last moment, and was dubbed a third generation mobility equipment. The system was essentially an extremely powerful thruster that could be activated in bursts, allowing the pilot to make unpredictable evasive maneuvers, or used as a regular thruster, which would increase the overall mobility of the unit. But it's special feature lay in its "Shadow" system- something of an optical camouflage system that turned the unit into, optically, a floating shadow that moved at a rapid pace. This was what allowed him to use the [Shadow Vector], and after running several tests in base, the system proved superior to several high mobility third generation models.

And with that in mind, Alexandria secretly signed a transfer for Sam- a transfer to the IS Academy- in order to do further research for the system.

His existence still remained unknown to the world, and unknown to the CEO of the Dunois company, and for that, he was thankful, but leaving the staff of the research lab, all of which he'd grown rather fond of and all of whom had grown fond of him, was somewhat painful to him and he was barely able to hold the tears back on the day he left for the academy. He knew that information about the [Shadow's Veil] technology had been reported to the higher ups of the Dunois company, and he knew that the day he was to leave for the academy was the day that the scientists higher up the ladder were supposed to see the system in action, and of course, he also knew that he would have to perform in front of the other scientists before departing for the Academy.

But he didn't plan on staying around for long.

As was scheduled, he remained on duty and showed off the true potential of the [Shadow's Veil], amazing the scientists as well as the other pilots, and for that 'performance', he had to pretend that he was a girl, meaning that he embarrassingly had to wear paddings on his chest and the female piloting suit as well as make up on his face, which somehow made him look like an actual girl.

But right after the performance, things began to go horribly wrong.

First, he was almost caught changing into his casual clothes, of which he'd been gifted several by his fellow pilots and even researchers.

Next, as he was leaving the changing room, several scientists had been passing by the doorway and he'd had to duck back into the room to avoid detection.

And then, just as he thought he was safe, one of the veteran pilots who'd trained in another area- probably the main HQ- had challenged him to a duel, identifying him only by his hair and not noticing that he was indeed a male.

Of course, he had chosen to ignore her and quickly walked away, but the girl would not be so easily fazed. She came straight at him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around and getting a good look of his face before he instinctively placed her in a lock, releasing her after he'd put on enough pain and instantly escaping.

And it wasn't long before every single visitor was looking for him.

News of a 'second male pilot' had quickly spread amongst the visitors after the female pilot had recovered and retreated, and he was essentially a most wanted inside the compound at that moment.

It was only thanks to the timely intervention of Alexandria, who said that there was one more piece of technology that she would like to introduce- the [SMART Camo], an optical camouflage system- and his fellow pilots that he managed to escape and take the bus to the airport safely, leaving no traces of him ever existing in that compound.

* * *

"So… well yeah, that's the story of how I got here in the first place," Sam said, finishing his summary of how he managed to take activate an IS and receive his personal unit. Of course, despite saying all that, he was still wary of the blond girl who sat across him.

"Ahh… so that's why…" Rin softly muttered, a look of understanding gracing her child-like face.

And every person on the table, Charlotte included, had the same look on their faces.

"Anyway, that's all I've got…" Sam said. "What I really wanna know right now is who exactly are you?"

He glanced at Stella who was busy eating her lamb chop.

"Hmm? Me? I'm your sister!" her reply was cheerful and filled with innocence, but it wasn't something that Sam wanted to hear.

"No joking around. I never had a twin sister, or else we'd have been raised together by Uncle David."

Sam noted that at this, Stella's face turned dark as if she was remembering something she didn't want to, but even then, she still told the truth.

"I never really wanted to admit this," she started, a note of sadness clearly audible in her voice. "But I'm not really human."

The looks of surprise coming from everyone was enough to spur her on for an explanation.  
"I'm a genetically engineered combat unit, meaning that I was born to be an ultimate warrior," Stella continued.

"So… something like me, then?" Laura asked, her head tilted slightly to the side.

Stella nodded, then shook her head.

"Something like you, but not exactly," she denied, an awkward smile on her face.

"But that still doesn't explain why I'm your big brother."

"Ahh, as for that… I was just getting there," Stella explained, continuing on what she had been saying. "I'm a genetically engineered combat unit that was grown from your DNA Map, onii-chan."

A look of surprise and horror spread across Sam's face as he recalled his trip to the US with his uncle and how he'd donated his DNA map to the scientists after a certain accident.

He never expected that he'd meet a genderbent clone of himself.

"Onii-chan, I know what you're thinking," Stella suddenly broke in, a cheeky smile on her face. "You're thinking that you never expected to see yourself genderbent right in front of your eyes now, aren't you?"  
Sam couldn't help but feel embarrassed that he'd been read so easily and his face quickly turned red, which broke the tense atmosphere that had settled on the table, making each of them laugh. The laughter died down and was followed by several seconds of silence, with each one of the girls staring at Sam, waiting for his decision on the matter. He racked his brain, looking through his memories as to when he might have given anyone his DNA map.  
He found it.

"Ahh, anyway," Sam said in a nonchalant tone after a bit of thinking. "It feels better now that I've got that cleared up. I'll treat you as my little sister from now on then, that sound good?"

He smiled as Stella nodded cheerfully, having been accepted by her "onii-chan" in front of everyone.

"Uhm… Blackburn-kun?" Charlotte's voice brought his attention to her. "I have to ask you something… after all that you told us, are you a part of the Dunois company then?"

Her voice was clearly tinged with worry, which in turn, worried him. But he decided to tell her the truth anyway.

"Yes… at least I should be, even if unofficially."

He noticed that her face was suddenly slightly fearful, though she quickly recovered and hid it before anyone else could notice.

"Ahh, Sam… come with me for a second."

It was Ichika.

He was already standing up, and walking away, and of course, Sam couldn't just leave him alone like that. He quickly stood up and ran after the other boy.

"What is it?"

"It's about Charlotte."

Sam nodded, willing for Ichika to go on.

"Thing is, she was sent here under the guise of a boy in order to collect data from me, but she doesn't want to do it and I… I promised her that I'd protect her if the Dunois company ever tried to do anything to her, especially after her disguise has been compromised."  
Sam nodded again, showing his understanding.

"So essentially, she's in the same position as me."

"Yeah… wait- huh?"

Ichika could see clearly that Sam was deep in thought- one hand crossed over his chest, the other lightly touching his chin and his eyes angled down towards the floor- and knew that it was probably impossible to talk to him right now.

But when he was done, Sam quickly walked back to the table and tapped Charlotte's shoulder, gesturing for her to follow him and brought her back to where Ichika was standing, still dumbfounded.

"Listen, Dunois-san," he said. "You don't have to worry about the Dunois company doing anything to you."

Charlotte looked up upon hearing that, and Sam continued.

"Because, like Ikku, I promise that I'll protect you."

Hearing a boy blatantly say that without feeling any sort of embarrassment, Charlotte couldn't help but blush slightly, and she figured that that had been what the two boys were talking about earlier on.

"W-why is that…?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Well, that's because we're both in the same position aren't we?"

After hearing Sam say that, both Ichika and Charlotte looked at him, surprise evident on their faces.

"Listen, I'm wanted by the Dunois company for being an unknown 'intruder' and for being the second male pilot, and you… you're wanted, for a lack of better word, for 'treason', no? Well at least if they find out that your cover's blown."

Charlotte nodded, understanding where he was going with this.

"And despite the severity between our reasons, I'd still think it's best if the 'intruder' protects the 'traitor', if you get what I mean," Sam grinned at her.

"B-but… what if you get caught? I don't want to trouble you like that, especially if you're confirmed to be wanted by the company who you're saying you'd protect me from."

Sam sighed.

"Dunois-san, I dunno if Ikku had said this to you before, but you really need to learn to rely on others a bit more," he grinned. "And plus, do you really think that they'd be able to catch me easily?"

Charlotte glanced at Ichika who was suddenly grinning at her.

"This guy's not all talk- he's literally got skills when it comes to fighting and hiding."

At that, Charlotte nodded and smiled at him before saying "So now, I've got the only two male IS pilots in the world protecting me huh?"

Both Ichika and Sam couldn't help but feel a bit flustered at the way she said it and their faces turned slightly red, but even then, Charlotte simply smiled at them.

"Thank you," she said before turning and pulling both of them back to the table.

"Oh and one more thing, just call me Sam."

"Then call me Charlotte from now on."


	5. Shadow's Prowess: Chaotic Shopping Trip

"Huh…" Sam sighed as he wandered around the campus, nonchalantly putting his arms behind his head as he did so. "What to do… what to do…"

He'd been told to go back to the dorm earlier by Ichika who'd been ordered to stay back after school to clean up the classroom as punishment for breaking the rules, but now, he didn't know what to do. He was somewhat aware of the group of girls following right behind him but he didn't really pay much heed to them- Ichika had told him that they were very curious about him.

"Huh…"

He kept on walking, then thought of something before doubling back and running towards the school building, circling around the shocked group of girls as he did so. He sprinted as fast as he could and weaved through the corridors, going for the janitor storeroom and quickly taking up a mop before sprinting back to their class. Arriving at the door, he heard a slight crash from within and opened the door.

The scene he saw made him chuckle slightly.

From where he stood, it looked like Ichika was hugging Charlotte from behind, but from the sound of the crash, he guessed that it was because she slipped while she'd been trying to lift up one of the tables.

"Hey, you two lovebirds, are you working or flirting?" he asked as he walked into the classroom and lifted the table himself, shifting it over to where it was supposed to be.

"F-f-flirting?" Charlotte's voice had a tone of shock in it and he could see that she was blushing as Ichika quickly let go of her, blushing himself.

Sam just laughed quietly at this.

"It's okay, I understand everything," he winked at both of them, showing a cheeky smile. It was fun teasing Ichika like this, and he'd always been more than happy to do it even in the past. "You two finished cleaning already huh? Kinda fast, I must say."

He continued shifting the tables back to their original positions as the two embarassed people stood, delicately keeping their distance and looking away from each other.

"O-oh yeah," Ichika suddenly started.

And it seemed that Charlotte wasn't expecting him to say that as she suddenly screamed in shock, and Sam just couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I've felt something weird since last month started, so I should ask you now."

"Uu? Oh yes, what is it?"

Sam continued to work alone as the two of them chatted, all the while listening in on their conversation, albeit unintentionally.

"Huh… when you said to me that 'please call me Charlotte when we're alone', I thought that you intended to continue your disguise as a guy. The next day, you just returned back to your girl identity so I was wondering if something happened.

"Ah.. huh… well… that… that's…"

Her stuttering was really clear, and Sam could guess that something was up with the two of them.

"Ah, it's not that. It's fine if you don't want to answer, but it's just that I feel weird about it."

"D-do you care about that?"

It seemed that at this point, Sam's presence had been completely forgotten, and he didn't mind. He was done setting up the classroom anyway.

"Of course I do."

"I-Is that so… I see…"

Sam noted the slight awkwardness between the two and watched as Charlotte and Ichika exchanged looks multiple times before she suddenly said "I hope that Ichika can seriously treat me like a girl…"

He noted that she was blushing pretty heavily by this time, but continued to watch.

"So when I'm a girl while we're alone… I don't know if it's weird or despicable, but.. that… an-anyway, you're the reason, Ichika."

"I-Is that so… I'm sorry then."

"The- there's nothing to be sorry about…"

He watched as the girl turned her face to the window and noted that her face had remained as red as ever.

"But I did seriously treat Charlotte as a girl."

"Huh? You mean…"

"Because you're not a guy."

BAM

Sam fell flat on his face as he heard this, remembering just how much of a blockhead Ichika really is.

"Ah… Sam, you're still here?" Ichika looked at Sam who had suddenly fallen right in front of him.

"You mean… you didn't notice?" Sam said as he pushed himself off the floor, putting his face into his palm at the blockheadedness of his friend. Both of them shook their heads.

"A-anyway… just continue on…"

Sam stood up and walked outside the classroom, but after the door closed, he pressed his ears against the door again.

"Anyway… now that the name you asked me to call you by is normal already, don't you want a nickname?"

"Huh, can- can I?"

"If Charlotte doesn't mind."

He couldn't tell what was going on but it seemed that the two of them were getting pretty close.

"Yeah, okay! I have no objections at all! It-it's rare to have this chance, so I'll leave it to you!"

Even from outside, Sam could still sense the joy in Charlotte's voice.

"Let me think. Mn, how about Charl? It's nice and intimate."

"Charl-okay! It's great! It's very good!"

"Is-Is that so? Having such a large reaction, I guess you like it."

"It-It's okay, Charl...Charl, ufufufufu~"

"-Then Charl, I got something I would like to ask you..."

"Hm? What is it?"

From outside, Sam wondered what was going to happen next.

"Go out with me."

"Huh?"

And right at that moment, the door opened and Sam fell, yet again, on his face.

Back at their dorms, Ichika sat on his bed whilst he waited for Sam to finish showering. He'd already taken a shower so he was fine, but he had something he wanted to ask the other boy. He heard the high pitched noise of the shower cap being shut and slightly tensed, steeling himself to ask that one question he'd never managed to ask from the other boy, or more accurately never got an answer off, and although it was trivial, the last time he'd asked about it had been more than a year ago. He heard the door click open and watched as the other boy walked across to his bed, the towel still on top of his head soaking up the last of the water. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt with a logo of a sports brand on the chest and short pants, which was already a change in itself since the last time he'd slept over at Sam's house, the other boy wore a matching shirt and pants with pictures of characters from several old animes.

"Hey, Sam."

Hearing his voice, the other boy tensed up.

"Hold on, before you say anything, sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation earlier, Ikku," Sam interrupted, lowering his head in shame.

After he'd fallen back into the classroom, Charlotte had suddenly blushed madly at the thought of another person eavesdropping on their conversation and had ran off without saying another word, and he couldn't help but feel guilty about that.

"Nah, it's fine. You were always like that since Middle School anyway."

Sam laughed lightly at this as he watched his friend pouring some tea into a pair of clay cups.

"You still make barley tea back at your place?" he asked, remembering how he always liked to drink the barley tea that Ichika made by himself.

"Hmm? Yeah, I still do. You want some?"

"Well… later on I suppose."

He accepted the cup that Ichika was holding out and sipped the hot drink slowly, taking care not to burn his own tongue.

"Green tea, huh?"

"Yeah… hey, Sam, I gotta question."

Sam looked inquisitively at the other boy.

"Who do you like?"

At this, Sam struggled to keep himself from spraying the hot tea out of his mouth and ended up choking, the sudden question suddenly making him think back towards a certain blonde who he'd promised to protect.

Coughing out the last few drops of tea stuck inside his throat, Sam asked "Why'd you suddenly ask that?"

"Hmm? No reason, just curious since it's been a year since I asked that."

"Huh… I guess currently it's still no-one, but if I had to say the person that's been in my mind for a while…"

He paused, looking away as he tried to calm himself down a bit more.

"So… you like someone huh?"

Sam shook his head.

"I wouldn't call it like, more like admire…"

He whispered out the name.

"Charlotte…"

Ichika heard this and stayed silent for a moment, processing the name in his brain.

"Was that why…"

"Yeah."

"So you DO like her!"

"GRAH Keep it down! Do you want any of the other girls to hear?"

Ichika shook his head but kept his face in the same cheeky expression as before.

"Like I said, it's more admiration than like. I mean, you've got to admire her skills as a pilot, and the fact that she's the ace of aces… I've actually admired her even before I met her! She was something of a legend you know!"

"Ooh… so it's like that huh?"

Ichika grinned and nodded, his fingers on his chin in a pose of mock-wisdom.

"Well… she's well renowned back in the Dunois research lab you know. Apparently, not a single one of the veterans there could even stand a chance against her, and now that I've seen that skill for myself, it's really quite surprising."

"Oooh…." Ichika remained smiling. "Hey, how about you come with us this Sunday?"

"Huh?"

"Well, we've got the summer school coming up and you didn't bring your swimming kit did you?"  
Sam shook his head.

"Well then, that's settled! I mean, you're fine with that right?"

"Yeah… I guess."

Sam's eyes suddenly lit up.

"And hey, Ichika, I've got a question for you."

"Huh?"

"Who do YOU like?"

"Oh, the weather's great today!"

It was Sunday and the weather was clear, which meant it would've been a perfect day for a date had anyone wished for it. But right now, in order to prepare for the seaside school that was starting next week, a certain girl arrived on the street. And it seems that she wasn't happy.

"I just heard my dream shatter."

Ichika, clueless as ever, thought back to the morning as to what may have happened. Charlotte had been like this ever since the morning started, and he didn't know if she was being listless or just plain moody, but she didn't appear to be too happy. He turned around as he felt a slight presence from behind him and saw the last person that had been invited along. Sam, who wore a black hoodie trimmed with white and a white shirt underneath, stood there, hood up and hands in the pocket of his jeans. As opposed to the hot-looking clothes that he wore, Ichika wore a simple blue shirt and long, blue pants made out of light fabric and Charlotte wore a short sleeved white shirt with a light cream cutie top and short skirt that showed off her legs. Ichika nodded in Sam's direction before turning back to Charlotte.

"What's wrong, Charl? Are you feeling sick?"

No response.

Ichika slowly peered over her shoulder worriedly and Charlotte pushed his face away, her eyes looking as if they were blaming him madly.

"Charl?"  
"Ichika."

Her tone was cold.

"Guys who play with girls' feelings should be stomped to death by horses."

The intense words that left Charlotte's lips made Sam begin to laugh, and it was only then that she noticed him.

"Yeah, such a guy should just die."

"Go look into a mirror!"

At this point, Sam couldn't hold it in any longer. He burst out in laughter at the predicament his friend was put into.

"W-What?" this time, it was Charlotte, who still looked quite mad as she stared at him.

"N-nothing… it's just that," Sam couldn't stop himself as he laughed again. "I can't get over just how much of a blockhead you are."

Sam continued to laugh, bending over and holding his stomach as he did so. The length and intensity of his laugh was worrying to both of them, but after awhile, it finally subsided.

"Huh… besides, you just asked me to go accompany you to buy something… ahh, I feel that you said something similar last month, Ichika… haa…"

"Huh… about that, I'm sorry. It's alright not to force yourself like that, you know? If you're really feeling unwell, we can always go back to rest. Health is first priority."

Staying silent but holding in yet another laugh, Sam watched as Charlotte continued to stare at the other boy.

"Huh… I still don't understand why you're doing this, Charl, but I guess to thank you, I'll treat you to parfait at the shop in front of the station."

"Just the parfait?"

"An-And cake! And drinks!"

"Good. Also, this."

He watched as Charlotte offered her hand out to Ichika, clearly wanting to hold hands with him

"I won't argue with you if you're willing to hold hands with me."

"Ohh, so that's how it is. Okay."

And as Ichika grabbed Charlotte's hand and began to walk, Sam noticed movement somewhere around the sides and looked in that direction, confirming the identities of two girls who were clearly watching the three of them. The obvious brown twintails and flowy blonde hair gave them away, and they were hiding- or at least trying to- behind a vending machine. It seemed like one of them had partially deployed her IS- the Shenlong, Sam judged based on the pink colour of the arm.

"Sam? You coming?"

"Yeah, in a sec…"

He threw a grin in their direction and saw them recoil slightly in surprise before he walked after the two, his hands still in his pocket. They'd need to take a train in order to arrive at the Transport Hub shopping center, and he wasn't planning on staying around for long with those two following them. He waited as the train grinded to a halt before him and stepped on, leaning against the railing as the other two took their seats right next to where he stood.

"Ha…" he sighed as the doors closed behind him with a hiss, the other two taking seats as he leaned back on the railing of the vehicle. "How the hell am I friends with such a blockhead like him?"

"Hey, did they just hold hands?"

"Yeah, they did…"

"Oh, okay. That happened right? I'm not daydreaming right? Alright let's kill him!"

Both Cecilia and Rin peeked their head out from the corner, staring at the trio who now stood directly in their line of sight. However, as they walked away, Rin noticed that the other boy, dressed in a black hoodie, had only moved an inch before stopping and was now looking directly at them. They couldn't see his face which was shrouded by the shadow cast by the hood, but they knew who it was since there was only one other boy in the IS Academy, and that boy now threw a grin at them.

"We've been spotted…"

But instead of doing anything, the other boy just turned and walked in the direction of the station.

"Alright, let's kill him now."

Partially deploying her IS, Rin aimed her cannon at the three figures with their backs turned to her, preparing to fire the [Ryuuhou] as she stared at them with a murderous look in her eyes.

"Oh, you look like you're having fun…"

The sudden voice shocked both of the girls and the [Ryuuhou]'s firing sequence aborted. Standing behind them was the girl who had, in the past, single handedly defeated both of them, Laura Bodewig.

"KYAH! W-When did you come here?"

"Don't worry, I have no intention to have at you right now."

"W-who would believe that? If you want to battle again, I'll accept it willingly.

Rin and Cecilia both began to feel suspicious of the girl who stood right before them, but unlike them, Laura didn't seem to mind, replying with an "About that? Oh well, I forgive you."

The casual answer caused both of them to remain rooted to the spot, unable to properly process what she just said.

"W-Who on Earth would say 'is that so? I got it?' after hearing you say that?!"

"Is that so? I'm going after Ichika then. Gotta make a move first."

Laura didn't hesitate as she began to move in the direction of the trio.

"Wait! Wait a minute!" Rin yelled as she stopped Laura in her tracks.

"W-what are you going to say after catching up to them?"

"It's obvious right? I just want to tell them that I'm joining in."

Both Cecilia and Rin didn't know how to react to this- the direct response was not something to be expected from a 15 year old girl.

"W-wait a sec! If you're going to fight an unknown enemy, it's best to collect information first right?"

"I can see your logic… What do we do?"

Rin's smile was a mischievous and slightly evil one.

"We'll tail them and observe what state they're in."

Laura nodded, accepting the idea.

"Let's do it."

"Ah!" Cecilia suddenly piped up. "And be careful of Sam… he knows we're here."

The monorail finally stopped with a hiss and the doors opened. Casually walking out with his hands in his pockets, Sam looked around him for any sort of suspicious activity as the other two stood up and joined him. They were still holding hands of course, and it made him smile when he saw just how embarrassed Charlotte was at this.

"Sam? What's going on?" Ichika asked. "You seem a bit wary of something."  
"Ahh, it's nothing," Sam replied. "Shall we make a move then?"

Ichika nodded and began to walk in the direction of the swimsuit shop, but Sam had different plans. Before the other two could stop him, he walked in the other direction and waited in the shadows, watching as two- no, three- girls came out of the monorail, each of them wearing the IS Academy uniform.

"So… they're here. And Laura's with them."

And without looking back, he merged with the crowd and caught up to the other two, following them up the escalator and onto the second floor.

"Let's see… the swimsuits are over here."

Sam noted that they were, right now, in the mall of the transport hub- the 'Resonance'- which was easily accessible from any place within the city and had shops that sold items from several international top brands. Other than that, it also had something of a food street which had restaurants from basically anywhere, be it European, Chinese, Japanese amongst other things, as well as entertainment facilities for all ages. In short, it was a mall in which you can find quite literally find anything, and it looked good too. Not a lot has changed since middle school as him, Ichika, Rin and Dan would often come here back then, and he remembered the times when they would just go around aimlessly whilst eating ice creams together.

"Hmm?"

Something piqued his interest and he slipped away. It was a jewellery store nearby the swimming equipment shop, and on display was a metal bracelet with a complex and symmetrical pattern of twists and turns. But what caught his eye the most was its colour. One side of the symmetry was pure black, and the other was pure white, and it was trimmed with gold coloured metal and inlaid with details made of silver metal. He always loved that kind of pattern- in fact, he'd designed and made a mask that had a black left side and a white right side with several details that were gold in colour. Without thinking, he went inside and bought the accessory, which wasn't cheap at all, but it at least wasn't too pricey as well.

But now that he bought it, he had no idea what to do with it.

His left hand was already full with the [Revive's] standby form, which was quite literally a buckler in itself, and he wasn't planning to put anything on his right hand except for a watch.

"Muu… dammit I just did something stupid."

Putting the box in his pocket, he went inside the swimming equipment shop and noticed that Ichika was nowhere to be seen, but Charlotte was already there, looking as if she was waiting for him.

He decided to tell her about it.

"Charlotte," he called out and saw as she reacted with a bit of surprise as she watched him head over. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear- "There're three people following us- Laura, Rin and Cecilia. Watch yourself."

And with that, he headed off to the male section to choose his swimming trunks.

"Ahhh…" An idea suddenly formed in his head. It had been about ten minutes since he'd warned Charlotte about the other three's presence and only now did he think about giving the bracelet to her.  
"Dammit, why didn't I think of that sooner."

He knew that girls weren't particularly fussy about their accessories, so he thought that Charlotte wouldn't mind wearing it as he had no way of wearing it himself, but he wondered how to give it to her. As he did this, a pair of trunks caught his eye. It was mainly black but on its sides were circular looking shapes weaved in white, and on the white, there were several criss crossing lines that gave it a scaly appearance. He took that and was about to head over to the cashier when he heard a little ruckus from the female side, but by the time he arrived there, he could only see Charlotte pulling Ichika into the changing room.

So it seems that he was the one that caused the ruckus. Wait… did she just pull him INTO the changing room?

Shrugging, he turned on his heels and began to walk away when suddenly-

"You!"

He didn't respond, but he knew that the voice was directed towards him.

"The man in the hood! I'm calling you!"

He continued to ignore her, but he stopped nonetheless.

"Yes, you! Arrange these swimsuits here."  
He knew what could happen if he refused to do it, considering how ever since the introduction of the IS, society had favoured women a lot more. He knew that if he didn't obey what she said, he could be in trouble, but he'd had a standing rule to never let people he doesn't know order him around, and despite the shift in favour, he was glad that most women didn't take advantage of it.

However, there were always the few who enjoyed power and wanted to flaunt it about.

He shifted his head slightly so that his face remained hidden.

"Can't you just do it yourself, woman?"

His response brought shock to the woman and several others nearby- none had thought that a man would talk back like that.

"The nerve off… Guards!"

He grinned and did something unexpected- most people would probably be on the ground right now, begging that the guards not be called. But not him. He walked off, remaining unfazed, and paid for his swimming trunks whilst all the while, the guards were gathering behind him beside the woman and were planning on ways to attack and subdue him. Of course, the counter didn't care much despite being a female as she herself saw that Sam did nothing wrong, but by the time the transaction had been completed and Sam had received his item, the guards had surrounded him and several were moving in with batons. In the center, the woman was smiling smugly at him, but the smile turned into something of a scowl upon seeing his reaction.

His face, still hidden by the shadow of his hood, couldn't be seen, but his mouth could.

And he was grinning.

Since he was young, his school and his house had always been separated by a gang-infested street which he'd have to go through just to arrive at his school, and because of this, his uncle had been training him to fight since a very young age. Technically having been raised in the streets, he'd been getting into fights with gangs which made him more than just a capable fighter. He was able to defeat people with formal training in Taekwondo and Karate despite them being black belts in their arts, and with ease too, and not only in one-on-one, but even in one-on-many, and he had taken down several delinquent gangs by himself.

And he knew that the guards were trained, but that they were nothing compared to the enemies he faced in the past.

To him, they were just meat sacks.

He slowly walked towards the guards in a calm manner, but his wolfish grin never left his face. In fact, several of the guards began to feel disturbed by it and began to back off, shifting farther and farther away from the boy who was walking in their direction.

"What are you doing? Get him!"

At this, the guards, who are all male, attacked at once, pulling out their batons as they rushed him head on, swinging it wildly at his head.

Of course, Sam didn't flinch.

He danced underneath the wooden sticks, ducking, twisting and turning as he gently redirected several of the strikes towards other guards' heads, watching as they made contact and the man that the weapons belonged to begin dropping to the floor, completely unconscious. However, one guard proved better than the rest, hanging back and finally attacking him as he walked through the crowd, swinging the baton in a fast and controlled manner as he attacked. He was able to counterattack Sam's counterattack too, which resulted in Sam actually taking offensive action and attacking the guard back, striking the back of his knee and laying him out on the ground with a quick, violent pull of the guard's shirt, the impact knocking the breath out of him before finishing the guard off with a quick chop to the neck that struck a nerve point, knocking the guard out.

With that, he casually walked out of the store and disappeared into the shadows, the smug woman having a look of unbelief on her face.

"Uhh…"

Both Ichika and Charlotte knelt on the floor as Yamada-sensei lectured them about a boy and girl being in a changing room together, Chifuyu standing right behind her. They'd been caught by accident when Ichika had walked out of the room and was now being punished for that act. After apologizing to the senseis, and in an attempt to shift the topic, Ichika asked,

"Oh yeah, Yamada-sensei, Chifu- ahem, Orimura-sensei, why are you here?"

"We're here to buy swimsuits. A-also, since we're not on duty, there's no need to force yourself to call us sensei," Yamada sensei replied, the sudden shift in topic catching her off guard.

Well… even if you say that… Ichika thought as he glanced over to where Chifuyu stood. I'd get killed if I called her Chifuyu-nee right here, especially since she's still wearing such formal clothes…

"You people should come out now right?"  
Chifuyu's sudden dialogue caused Ichika to feel a bit of shock, and as he turned around, he noticed Rin and Cecilia appearing from behind a pillar.

"We- we were intending to come out…"

"Th-That's right! We were just waiting for the right time!"

As Rin and Cecilia said this respectively, their expressions changed into an awkward yet fearful one.

"And why are both of you being so sneaky, I wonder?"

"Ahh… It's because girls don't want guys to know their shopping plans!"

"Tha-That's right! Really, Ichika has got so much nerve that it's mindboggling."

And of course, I get blamed.

"Make your purchase and go back."

Looking up, Ichika noticed that Chifuyu seemed to be holding onto a swimsuit, still hanging on its hanger. It appeared to him that, like Yamada-sensei, his big sister was making her final preparations.

"Ah… Ah- I got something I forgot to buy! I'll go buy it!," Yamada-sensei suddenly started, the tone in her voice somewhat panicky. "Rin-san, Alcott-san, please follow me! Dunois-san too!"

And with that, she dragged the three girls away without allowing any protests.

Or at least, that was what she would've been doing.

KYAAAA

A shrill scream from a woman suddenly erupted near the cashier area of the shop and all five of them instinctively ran in that direction…

Only to find a pile of unconscious security guards, their batons in their hands, and one of them was positioned noticeably far from the rest, as if he was the only one who managed to put up a fight.

And the woman who screamed was the same woman who had earlier on ordered Ichika to arrange the swimsuits.

"Whoa… what happened here?" Charlotte voiced out a slight disbelief. The guards that were positioned around 'Resonance' were supposedly the best, considering that this is a shopping district that can be accessed from anywhere and could contain large amounts of people, but to see so many of them lying down here, knocked unconscious, was quite an unexpected sight.

Ichika himself counted at least ten guards in the pile, and plus the one lying farther to the right, that made up eleven.

"What exactly happened here?"

Walking back into the shop, Sam feigned innocence as he stared at the pile of guards on the ground. His hoodie was now tied around his waist by its sleeves, creating a sort of tasset as it hung loosely from his waist. He was carrying the plastic carry bag that he received from the store behind his back.

"You're done already?" Ichika asked him, noticing the bag behind his back.

Sam replied with a nod, saying "Walked around for a little while. Thought you guys should be finished by now."

"A-Ahh… yeah, I just remembered…" Yamada-sensei suddenly piped up, dragging the other three students along with her as she walked off back into the store.

"And as for you, Ichika. Help me choose."

Both Ichika and Chifuyu left the scene, walking back towards the female swimming suit section. Meanwhile, Sam looked at the girl at the counter, the only stranger so far to have seen his face, and gave her a nod, to which she gave a knowing smile back, and at the woman who caused the ruckus in the first place, he approached her, giving her the same wolfish grin he had before taking out the guards. The woman looked at him and cowered back in fear before finally running back deep into the store, scared out of her wits by the young man whose smile she recognized.

"Onii-chan!" a voice Sam recognized filled his ears and he smiled.

Stella came running as she spotted her brother right at the door of the swimming equipment store that she was heading towards, putting her arms over his shoulder and hugging him from behind as she placed her face right next to his.

"Onii-chan, why didn't you tell me you were going here?"

"Ahh, sorry, I forgot…"

He smiled at his clone, whom he now thinks of as a little sister.

"Anyway, just get what you need, I'll go and tell them to wait for you."

"Okay!"

Sam smiled as he watched the receding figure of his "sister". He wondered whether it was best to give the bracelet to the girl who, as he got to know better, came to like, or if it was best to give it to his sister instead.


	6. Summer School by the Beach

"I can see the sea!"

As the bus went out of the tunnel, several of the girls yelled excitedly. It was the first of three summers that they'd have together, and even Sam, who had only been to the sea several months before, a week before he left for France to catch up with his uncle, could share the sense of excitement coursing through the students.

Speaking of that old man… I wonder how he's doing.

His uncle had been told about his transfer to the IS Academy by the staff at the research center he had been in, the center that he was just recently told was called "Station Hydra", and he'd only spoken to him the night before, telling his uncle to keep his existence a secret for him and that he was sorry he couldn't come along for a visit. His uncle had replied in a relatively sad tone, saying that he was proud of Sam and that he wasn't angry at him, but that he was sad to see his adopted son go away again.

"Ha…"

"Nii-chan, what's wrong?"

Stella, who sat right beside him asked.

"You haven't been looking happy since this morning… did something happen?"  
"Ahh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about the old man, that's all."  
"The old man?"

"Uncle David."

"Oh…"

Having satisfied her curiosity, Stella leaned back in her seat and shifted her attention to the girl who sat across the aisle from them. Luna sat, looking out the window as if deep in thought, but she quickly looked down when she noticed Sam staring at her from the reflection on the bus' window, hiding her blushing face.

"What's going on with her?"

Thinking this, his eyes wandered over to Charlotte, who was sitting next to Ichika. She wore the silver bracelet that Ichika had bought for her at the end of the trip around her left wrist, under which was the black and white bracelet that he'd bought and given to her. He recalled how Ichika had taken both him and Charlotte into the accessory store and picked out a silver coloured bracelet, buying it for her as thanks for accompanying him, and upon exiting the shop, he'd taken out the box from his pocket and given it to her, saying that he didn't know what to do with it and thought it be best to give it to her as thanks for letting him come along. He recalled how she'd smiled at him as she said thanks, and how that night, he wasn't able to shake the image of her smiling face from his mind, and how he ended up unable to sleep that night, his face continuing to heat up as he ended up thinking about her more and more, which was partially the reason why he was so tired. He knew that, despite the short one week of him knowing her, that he has feelings for her. He'd fallen for her kind and caring personality, and his admiration for her strength had secured his feelings for her, and he knew that she was in love with Ichika- as was the case with the other four girls, he'd discovered on his first day.

But despite all that, he didn't want to give up.

He'd been hiding his feelings from everyone, but Ichika seems to have noticed it as the other boy had teased him by using her name before.

"Ha…"

"We're about to reach our destination, sit down," Chifuyu's voice carried across the bus in a powerful manner.

And all at once, the girls who had been pressing themselves against the window sat back down, the commanding figure of their homeroom teacher having given her order.

And just like she said, the bus soon reached its destination and the members of the first years of the IS Academy quickly left the buses and began to line up.

"Alright then, this is the Kagetsu Resort. For the next three days, we'll be in their care so let's all be respectful and not let the staff's work increase."

"Thanks for taking care of us!" All four classes yelled in unison, bowing slightly to the lady in the traditional Japanese clothing, who also happened to be the boss of the resort and it seemed that the academy was taken care by this resort.

"Alright, please move this way. The freshmen this year seems rather energetic. That's good."

Following the crowd, Sam couldn't help but notice that the lady was talking to both Chifuyu and Ichika, and that Ichika's head was then being pushed down by his sister as she said something to him.

"Then, please head to your rooms. There's a changing room at the annex. All students who want to go to the beach, please head there to change, and if you're still confused as to where it is, you're welcome to ask the staff members."

A chorus of "yes" came from the girls and Sam sighed. It seemed that she hadn't noticed him, just as he wanted.

"A-Ahe-Ahem- Orimu~"

Sam watched as the girl whom Ichika referred to as Nohohon-san approached him at a snail's pace, moving in that trademark wobbly fashion of hers.

"Where's Orimura's room~? The room plan never indicated it. I want to play with you so hurry up and tell me~"

Sam watched as the other girls' ears perked up suddenly and soon felt a tugging on his sleeve.

"S-Sam… where's your room supposed to be too?"

He looked back at the girl standing beside him, her head only about the level of his shoulder.

"Ahh… that, I don't really know myself."

And even at that, he noticed several other girls also perking up. It seems like everyone wanted to know where they were placed.

"But I'd suspect I'd be put together with Ikku."

Though he only guessed it, he knew that both him and Ichika were placed in a hidden room somewhere in the resort as to avoid the intrusion of girls coming into their rooms, but it would've been nice if he'd been informed of where it is.

"Orimura, Blackburn, follow me. I'll show you to your rooms."

"Ahh… Orimura-sensei's calling me, I'll talk to you later," Sam said as he quickly headed over to where Chifuyu was waiting, giving Luna a small wave as he did so.

"So… Orimura-sensei, where exactly is m- our room?"

Without answering, Chifuyu turned on her heels and walked off, expecting the two students to follow. The two boys did as they were told and walked quickly, following the teacher clad in the black suit-dress.  
"Over here."

Pasted on the door is the paper with the words 'Staff Room'.

"E-EHH?" Sam reacted in shock.  
"No, Blackburn, your room is here."

Chifuyu walked a few meters down the corridor before stopping at another door, quite literally at the edge of the boundary between the staff rooms and the student rooms, but pasted on his door were the words "Staff Room (M)".

"Orimura will be in the same room as me whereas you will be having a single room."

She smiled a bit before continuing.

"The initial plan was to have you both share a room, but after thinking it through, it'll be troublesome considering how there would be girls that would ignore the lights out and stay in your room, especially considering how popular Ichika is."

"Huh… that kind of hurt you know, Orimura-sensei," Sam said in response to the sudden declaration made by Chifuyu.

"Anyway, at least this way, neither of you will get approached by the girls that easily."

"Well… I guess?" both boys said in unison.

"Anyway…" Sam sighed as he opened the door to his room.

Despite the word "single" on the piece of paper taped on the wood frame of the shoji door, the room was clearly a double room and the space was far too big for one person to use alone… or, if one switches mindset, the room had plenty of space to work with. On the other side of the room, the door to the balcony was opened and he could see the beach from here.  
"I have all this… to myself?"

He noticed a half opened shoji and approached it, only to find himself looking at a large bathroom complete with a bathtub. Even the sink had its own room. He turned around and awkwardly walked towards the door, still amazed at the room that had been reserved for himself. He placed down his camping bag and walked out of the room, carefully knocking on the door to Chifuyu and Ichika's room.

"Come in."

Hearing Chifuyu's voice, Sam slid the shoji open.

"Oh, Sam. Perfect timing. I was just about to tell Ichika here about the bath," Chifuyu began upon seeing Sam. "The large bath can be used, but you both must use it according to timing. The plan was to separate guys from girls, but since it involves all the students in this batch, it'd be too weird if everyone's to feel uncomfortable because of you two, meaning that you can only use it at certain times. If you feel like bathing during the night or in the morning, just use the ones in your rooms. You have one too right, Sam?"

He nodded numbly, still unable to grasp the luxury the school had given him.

"Anyway, it's free and easy today so you can go and do whatever you want."

With that, Sam turned on his heel and walked back to his room.

* * *

"What the…"

Sam stared at the bunny ears stuck in the ground. He'd been on his way to the changing room when he'd met Houki and Ichika and wondered what they were looking at, only to find himself staring at a pair of white bunny ears, and the fact that they were accessory type bunny ears were what concerned him the most.

"Huh.. is this-?"

"I don't know, don't ask me. It's got nothing to do with me."

"Huh… I'm pulling this alright?"

"Do whatever you want, it doesn't involve me."

With that, Houki turned and left hurriedly and soon enough, Ichika was gripping both bunny ears, pulling them out.

"WAAH!" he yelled, surprised as he tumbled backwards onto the ground.

"What are you two doing?"

Sam shrugged in the direction of the voice, seeing Cecilia approaching the two of them.

"Oh, Cecilia. It's nothing, I was just- AH!"

"I-ICHIKA-SAN!"

Pft…

Sam laughed internally at the slight awkwardness between the two which resulted from Ichika accidentally looking up Cecilia's skirt and, crossing his arms over his chest, walked over to where the bunny ears had been planted, looking up into the sky. His eyes widened in surprise.

"So-Sorry! Well, that… there these bunny ears over there, so I…"

"W-What?"

Sam heard the slight commotion behind him but he kept staring up, his jaw hanging loose.

"Oh… Shit!"

He didn't even think about the direction, simply diving aside in order to avoid the thing falling out of the sky.

Moments before an impact shook the ground around him.

He found himself lying on the ground right beside Ichika and turned around, staring into a giant object that drilled itself deeply into a ground. And oddly enough, it looked like-

"A- A CARROT?!"

The three of them said, completely surprised by the giant carrot that had landed right in front of them

"Ahaha! You got tricked, Ii-kun!"

With a voice that seemingly came out of nowhere, the carrot split open and a person emerged from inside, laughing heartily. It was a girl, roughly in her early twenties if he were to guess an age, with purple hair and sleepy-looking eyes.

"Well, when I used a missile to fly, I was nearly shot down by a certain country's scout planes! I'm a creature who knows how to learn. Fui fui!" the girl bragged, happily laughing away. She wore a tight fitting blue and white dress, essentially the same one from the children's fairy tale, Alice in Wonderland, and the tight clothings emphasized the size of her chest. Without hesitating, she took the bunny ears from Ichika's hands and placed them back on.

"L-Long time no see, Tabane-san."

"Yup yup! It's been really long! Speaking of which, where's Houki-chan?"

Sam was just about to answer that she had left when suddenly, the girl piped up again.

"Well, no problem! I can just use this Houki-chan detector to find her! Bye-bye Ii-kun! See you later!"

And with that, she took off in the direction that Houki went in.

"W-Who was that?" Sam asked, completely shocked at the encounter.

"I-Ichika… was that?"

"She's Tabane-san, Houki's older sister."

Hearing the name, his eyes widened even more.

"Y-You mean?"

"Th- That was professor Shinonono? The one that every country is looking for?"

With both Sam and Cecilia questioning him, he could only nod.

"Ahh well, if she's looking for Shinonono-chan then it's got nothing to do with us," Sam shrugged, nonchalantly walking past the two. "I'll see you on the beach."

He walked towards the inner annex, past the female changing room and he could hear all sorts of female discussions happening, things he wouldn't normally hear from girls who go to actual mix-gender schools.

Shit… never expected that I'd be hearing to these kinds of things.

And looking back, he could see Ichika, who was now approaching the inner annex behind him, was also looking awkward as if he didn't know what to do during this situation. He sighed as Ichika finally caught up to him, the two of them rapidly changing and doing some warm ups before heading to the beach together.

"Ah, it's Orimura-kun! And Blackburn-kun!"

"A- ARE YOU SERIOUS? I-IS MY SWIMSUIT WEIRD? THERE'S NO PROBLEM RIGHT?"

"Wahh~ their physique's quite amazing~ so they did train~"

"Orimura-kun, let's play beach volleyball later~"

The second Sam heard the words "beach volleyball", his ears perked up, but he showed no other signs of reaction to that.

"Oh, if there's time later, okay."

It seems that several of the girls were done changing, and the fact that they were revealing quite a lot of skin made Ichika nervous. Sam however, remained unfazed. It's always been like that- he never really cared much about a female's body, so he wasn't affected by the amount of skin they showed… with a few exceptions of course. Both of them looked at each other and nodded, heading to the beach and stepping onto the sand of the beach, baked hot by the July sun shining down from above.

"HOT HOT HOT HOT!"

Beside him, Ichika began to jump around slightly, getting scalded by the sand as they moved towards the coast. But after a while, he stopped and looked around. The beach was already filled with female students- some sunbathing, some swimming and others just playing, and right beside Sam, Ichika had suddenly began to stretch again.

"Ichika~"

Rin's voice came from behind the two of them and they turned.

"You're rather serious, doing stretches like that. Okay, let's go swim once you're done!"

And without waiting for a reply, Rin immediately climbed on Ichika's back like a cat climbing a tree, perching on his shoulders. It's been like that since they were younger- whenever they went anywhere that involved a swimsuit, she would always climb on Ichika's back.

"Cat."

He said that out of nowhere and Rin suddenly turned to look at him, giving him a bit of a scowl.

"Who're you calling cat?"

"Ahh…"

He daren't say her name, knowing just how violent she might get if he did.

"Hey hey, do some warm-ups too! I don't care if you drown," Ichika interrupted, speaking to Rin who continued to sit on top of him.

"I won't drown! I was a mermaid in my previous life… I think," Rin said. "Ooh- I'm so high up. I can see my house from here! It's great! You can be a mini-observation tower, Ichika."

Pft

Sam laughed internally at what she just said and suddenly jested.

"Not a lookout on the tower, but a tower itself?"

Turning to Sam, she jested back.

"What's wrong with that? It can benefit others anyway."

"A-Ahh! Wh- What are you two doing?"

A sudden voice from behind them made them all turn their heads, and standing right there was Cecilia who held a portable beach umbrella, a mat and a bottle of sunblock and unlike Rin who wore an orange sports bikini, her outfit was much more daring- a blue bikini with a low cut that showed off her cleavage and a sari tied around her waist, making her look much like a model.

"Nothing much, just sitting on his shoulders. Or rather, he's acting as a moveable watchtower."

"So you're actually acting."

Sam cut in again.

"Of course, he's unlicensed after all."

"Huh- you're- WAIT WHAT?" Ichika suddenly yelled, realizing what had just been said.

"I'm just messing with you, jeez," Sam laughed as he saw his friend's reaction.

"C-Could you please stop ignoring me?!"

Cecilia seemed to be fuming by now, her face clearly showing displeasure at the thought of Rin sitting on her crush's shoulders.

"Anyway, Rin-san, hurry up and get off him!"

"No."

"W-what kind of childish tantrum are you throwing?!"

Without hesitating, Cecilia stabbed the beach umbrella into the sand and laid out her mat as all around them, Sam could hear girls beginning to gossip amongst themselves.

"Is someone arguing?"

"Ah! It's Orimura-kun! H-he has someone sitting on his shoulders!"

"What? That's so nice~!"

"Must be by turn right? So it's first come, first served!"

The misunderstanding spread quickly throughout the group of girls and soon enough, they were all crowding around Ichika, asking him to let them sit on his shoulders. He'd hoped that they'd forget him, but mere seconds after they began crowding around Ichika, someone in the crowd suddenly yelled out-

"Look! Blackburn-kun's free!"

"Rin… mind getting down now?" Sam tried to ask nicely, but even as he did so, he was already grabbing Rin by the waist and lifting her off Ichika's shoulders, trying to keep her struggling form as far away as he could from his body just as the girls finally crowded around him too. He lost his grip on the girl and she kicked him in the gut with both legs, landing on her hand and flipping forward in a feline-like manner.

"W-Who said you could do that?" she yelled at Sam who suddenly flipped back to his feet on the hot sand, her face red in embarrassment.

"Ahh… speaking of which, Cecilia, you asked Ikku to do something for you right?" Sam asked, ignoring the embarrassed Rin.

But upon hearing this, Rin's ears perked up.

"You asked something from him? Then we're even!"

"N-no, that…"

"Huh? You didn't? Then I'll-"

"I-I did!" Cecilia said, cutting off Rin before she could say anymore. "ICHIKA-SAN, HURRY AND HELP ME APPLY THE SUNBLOCK!"

Several seconds passed as Cecilia's words sunk into everyone's head.

"WHAT?!"

And several seconds later, the entire crowd around them exclaimed in united surprise, right before several of the girls sprung into action.

"I'll get the sunblock!"

"I'll get the beach mat!"

"I'll get the beach umbrella!"

"I'll wash the sunblock off then!"

And before anyone could stop her, the last girl ran into the sea.

Sensing an awkward scene about to unfold before him, Sam quietly snuck through the crowd and into the water, submerging himself partway so that his nose was just above the water level, pretending to be a crocodile as he watched the actions of those on land. Cecilia had just taken off her sari and was now lying down on the beach mat after untying her swimsuit's knot.

"KYAH!" he heard her scream, the sound slightly distorted by the water around his ears.

He saw her say something to Ichika before the boy suddenly rubbed his palms together and continued rubbing her back with the sunblock, and before he knew what was happening, Rin had suddenly appeared on the other side of the beach mat and began to rub sunblock on Cecilia as well, albeit at a faster rate and with a mischievous expression on her face as she did so, her actions bringing forth quite a lot of screams from the unexpecting Cecilia.

And then…

"Ah! That's enough! Behave your-"

Cecilia stood up, and the untied bikini top slipped down her body, Sam instinctively looking away with a red face as that happened.

"AHH!"

"KYAA!"

He couldn't tell what was going on behind him now, but it seemed that Cecilia had gotten really, really mad.

"I'm running off then! Bye bye!" he heard Rin yell moments before he felt her feet smash his back. She tripped on him and fell face first into the sea, dragging Ichika under with her.

"H-HEY! Don't just sit there motionless like that!"

And as for Sam, he'd been knocked into the sea and sprung back up, shaking his head to clear the water from his hair.

"Don't just come running in like that then!"

The two of them had a stare off before Ichika finally resurfaced, gasping for air.

"Hmm… tell you what, let's have a race to that buoy over there. Ichika, Sam, the loser is treating the other two to parfait at ' CRUISE'," Rin suddenly challenged. And without taking a no for an answer- "Ready… Go!"

Without thinking, Sam instantly began to swim towards the buoy, chasing after Rin who was just in front of him, slowly closing the distance between them.

If I lose, that's 3000 yen gone… no way am I losing! he thought as he pumped his muscles faster in order to close the gap. He was just about to pass her…

When she disappeared into the sea.

"Huh?"

Confused, Sam waded around the water for several seconds before seeing Ichika suddenly dive underneath. He did the same and saw Rin slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the water, struggling as she slowly ran out of oxygen, and without thinking, he swam towards her, grabbing her outstretched arm as Ichika came in around the side and grabbed her waist, both of them swimming back up to the surface as they dragged Rin along.

"Rin! Are you alright?"

"See? You almost drowned because you didn't warm up!"

Sam and Ichika said that simultaneously as they helped Rin stay afloat.

"N- no, that's not it… I nearly drowned.. because of you."

"Haa…" Sam sighed as he heard Rin's lame excuse, the same one he's heard being used by several other girls as well.

"Anyway, let's get back to shore."

Ichika nodded and looked at Rin before saying "Here, get on. I'll carry you on my back."

"I-I'm alright, since we're just getting back to shore…"

"Rin." Ichika's said, his voice commanding, and without hesitating, Sam quickly pushed her onto his back, nearly sinking in the process, and when Rin securely held herself onto Ichika's back, Ichika began to swim back to shore, leaving Sam who continued to wade in the water.

"Well, better get back to shore soon…"

He began to swim back, pumping his muscles as he cut through the water and soon enough, he reached the shore, quickly standing up and shaking his head to clear the water before heading over to where Ichika who stood on the shore, his body still wet from the water.

"Ah, Ichika! Sam! You're here!"

Both boys looked in the direction of the voice, seeing two figures moving towards them- Charlotte and-

"W-what?" Sam voiced out his confusion.

"Who's this towel mummy?"

The thing that walked alongside Charlotte was covered in towels all the way from its head to its knees, completely covering up whoever is inside it.

"Alright, you can come out now. It's alright."

"I-I'll decide whether it's alright…"  
That voice… Laura?

Sam glanced at Ichika who looked back at him, both of them giving each other a strange expression as if they were thinking the same thing.

"O-kay~ it's rare for you to wear a swimsuit, so let Ichika see it!"

"H-Hold on… I need a bit of mental preparation as well…"

"Umm…" Sam tried to cut in. He glanced at both Charlotte and Ichika, both of them looking questioningly at him as he had an expression of mischievousness on his face. He used his eyes to communicate with Charlotte, glancing at Ichika before glancing back at her again, and it seemed that she understood as she suddenly smiled at him.

"Well- you've been saying that for a while, and you still haven't come out…" Charlotte started before she suddenly threw a cheeky smile at Sam, who threw a cheeky smile back.

Here it comes.

"Okay Laura, if you don't want to show yourself, I'm going to play with Ichika and ignore you~"

"Wh-What?"

The idea that Sam had seemed to be working.

"Yeah, let's do it. Let's go, Ichika."

Grabbing Ichika's hand, Charlotte leaned on the boy's shoulder and began to drag him to the sea.

"W-Wait for me! I-I'll go!"

At this, Charlotte suddenly looked back at Sam, giving him a wink and a thumbs up before receiving a thumbs up in return.

Operation succeeded.

"I-I'll take it off!"

Right after she said that, several towels dropped down from Laura's body in an instant, revealing Laura dressed in a swimsuit. The swimsuit was black and decorated with many laces on its side, making it look a lot more daring than usual, and her silver hair, which usually would not be dolled up, was tied into two short side-ponytails, the way the hair framing her face giving her a look of childlike innocence.

"It's not weird at all, right, Ichika?" she suddenly asked, her face showing insecurity and embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah! I was surprised but you look really cute in it!"

"WHA-!"

Sam noticed Laura's shocked reaction and her blushing face, holding in a laugh as he watched on.

"Th-That's enough for courtesies…"

"No, I'm not just saying that at all, right, Charl? Sam?"

Sam simply nodded back in response as Charlotte said something about doing Laura's hair and he noticed that both bracelets were still on her left hand, the light reflecting off the silver bracelet from Ichika and partially reflecting off the black and white one that was from him, the smooth surface of the metal being highlighted by the light's rays.

"Won't that rust? Is it alright?" Sam heard Ichika say.

"It's alright, I did all sorts of anti-rust measures before coming here. And plus, it's a rare thing that Ichika would give me something," she glanced slightly towards Sam. "And Sam as well."

She giggled slightly before Laura cut in.

"Ichika…"

Ichika tilted his head slightly to one side as if to answer Laura's call.

"That's mean! You didn't buy a gift for me.. well, I hope you buy me one…"

Sam didn't know what was going on but was taken aback by Laura's usual straightforward self. He still hadn't gotten used to that.

"Well if that's the case, I'll get you one on your birthday or something."

"Uu… I see. Then you must give me one if there's a chance! Promise!"

Sticking out her hand,Laura folded all her fingers except for the pinky.

"Okay, but the price can't be too high. I'm still a student after all," was Ichika's reply as he took the pinky promise, chuckling slightly at the childlike act.

"By the way, do you have anything you want? It doesn't seem like you really wear anything decorative."

"Y-you're right. To be honest, I'm not really interested in those sorts of things… b-but if you choose one for me, I'll be really happy no matter what it was."

"I see… Hmm, what should I get for you? A necklace…"  
"Ikku, isn't it a little too early to be suddenly planning that?" Sam piped in. "But looking at her now, what about something…"

He didn't finish his sentence but merely gestured to one of his ears, making sure that Laura wouldn't see it.

"Earrings huh.. Hey you're right, I think it'd look cute on her!"

"C-Cute?"

Seeing Laura stutter, Sam couldn't hold it all in anymore as he slowly let out a bit of air from his mouth.

"O-RI-MU-RA-KUN!"

"WE JUST AGREED TO PLAY BEACH VOLLEYBALL!"

"WA- AGAINST ORIMU~ THAT'S GREAT!"

It seemed that it was Nohohon and her friends, the girls that Ichika had agreed to play with earlier.  
"HERE!"

The ball came flying towards them and Sam leapt up, catching the ball in his right hand before tossing it to his left, spinning and passing it to Ichika.

"Catch."

Catching the ball, Ichika looked at the people around him.

"Ehh… what should we do… it can't be 4 on 3…"

Without thinking, Sam stepped away and raised his hand, using his body to say "I'll step out for now".

"You sure you're okay with that?"

He nodded before Ichika finally yelled to the girls-

"Let's start!"

Hearing Ichika's reply, two of the girls began to quickly expand the net with Nohohon slowly drawing out the court on the sand.

"Alright then, we'll use the basic rules! Maximum three hits with no consecutive spikes! First to ten wins!"

"Alright, you people can start first!" Ichika said as he tossed the ball over.

Sam identified the girl who received the ball as Kushinada, and he noted that her eyes were gleaming with excitement as she set her posture up.

"I'll show you why they call me July's Summer Devil!" she declared as she threw the ball up and spiked it towards the opposition. He watched as on the other side, Charlotte quickly ran to try and receive the ball…

Only to crash into the stunned Laura.

His eyes widened as he saw Laura, who finally regained her focus, suddenly dash off after looking at Ichika, her face tinged completely red.

"E-Eh… what just happened?"

Stunned, Sam could only look in the direction Laura ran off to before looking back at the court.

"W-We'll play on. I'll check on Laura later," Ichika said as he prepared again.

"Hey, hey, wait. Don't tell me you're just gonna leave me here?"

Sam walked towards Ichika's court as he rotated his shoulders, loosening up the muscles.

"I'll take the back."

Taking up position, Sam adjusted his footing in the sand as he waited for the ball to come.

"Here I go!"

The ball was spiked steeply towards the right side of the court, moving quickly and at an angle where Charlotte was most like going to fail at hitting it. But unexpectedly, she leapt sideways, stretching her arm out and managing to force the ball to fly upwards.

"I got this!"

Without waiting, Sam ran and leapt up, timing his arm to swing just as it came within striking distance, spiking it straight towards the center of the opponent's court. The girls had only began to react when the ball had struck the ground, the unexpected power he placed into the spike forcing the ball to spin on the ground for a couple of seconds before stopping, spraying sand here and there as it did. He landed lightly on the sand, placing his feet out so that he wouldn't land on Charlotte, who ended up lying on the ground sideways. He grinned at Ichika, then at the girl as he stepped back, offering a hand to her which she took as he pulled her back up.

"Alright, my turn."

He grinned as he caught the ball and set himself up. He threw it up and leapt, smashing the ball down in a high-speed serve that appeared to be travelling towards the net. His faced remained grinning, and surely enough, the ball just passed right above the net, clipping the edge of it and shocking the three girls as they scrambled to receive it. Nohohon got lucky as she tripped over her fox costume's legs and accidentally landed flat on her face, her hands managing to receive the serve as she fell, and without thinking, Kushinada dove forwards and dug the ball, sending it flying over the net… right where Charlotte had positioned herself. The spike came down hard and a soft thud was heard as the ball struck the ground, and as Charlotte landed, she quickly looked back at her teammates and gave them a thumbs up. Giving a thumbs up back, Sam glanced over at Ichika who seemed to be awkwardly looking away and approached him.

"Ikku, what's wrong?" he asked, despite knowing what the answer is. "Looking at boobs again are we?"

"W-WHAT? WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT? E-E-EVERYTHING'S FINE!"

Sam smirked cheekily as he noticed Charlotte coming over to check on the other boy who was waving his hands wildly in front of him.

"Muu, Ichika's so weird…"

"Huh, it's summer so I just overheated a little…"

"Huh… Yeah, you need more thermal energy in the summer, I get it."

Hearing Charlotte's somewhat strict yet awkward reply to Ichika's jest, Sam was a bit shocked

"Hey, isn't it about lunch time yet? Should we just have one more round and then go?"

Suggesting this, Sam ran back to the back of the court and nodded, receiving the ball as the other two finally got back to their positions. He threw the ball up high and leapt, slamming the ball down hard and watched as it zoomed through the air towards the opposition…

Only to hit the top of the net.

It bounced up high and Sam watched as Nohohon scampered forwards to receive it, raising her hands and setting it up for a smash as Kushinada leapt behind her. Landing lightly on the sand, Sam quickly dove forward, positioning himself to where he expected the smash to be, and was successful at that, but as Kushinada spiked the ball, he had misjudged the distance and dove in early, receiving a ball to the face as he flew through the air, his legs shooting out underneath him in a comical way as the ball fell. But Ichika had been quick to react, digging the ball back up and over the net. Recovering, Sam rolled to his feet as the third girl- Luna, as Sam noted- dug the ball back and over the net, to which Charlotte complied with a dig of her own. The series of digs, sets and spikes continued on for the next few minutes- until Sam made a mistake in his setting, accidentally flicking the ball over the net and into the opponent's territory. Leaping high, it was Luna who received the ball, spiking it down towards their court- and right into Sam's face. Sam stood still for a while as he took in the impact of the ball before suddenly crouching down and clutching a hand to his face.

"A-ahh! I-I'm so sorry Sam!" Luna stuttered as she ran over to Sam, but he simply waved her off before taking off his other hand and grinning towards her.

"Good game," he replied back as he offered her a hand, which she shyly took.

"Ahh, you're fine so… let's head for lunch?"

Ichika's suggestion lit up everyone's faces.

"Ah yeah… and Ikku, whatcha wanna do after that?"

"I guess I'd go swimming for a while after resting."

He shrugged, finishing off his sentence without words.

"I-I see… Well, let's go for lunch then," Charlotte said as she turned towards the Annex. "Also, Ichika, which room are you staying in?"

"Ah- I wanna know too!"

"Yeah~ Useless bed top information should be shared~"

Hearing the girls saying that, Sam's eyes couldn't help but twitch slightly, not because he was jealous but because he was not quite sure whether or not it was a wise move to tell the girls.

"Ah… Ikku…" Sam started as he placed a hand on Ichika's shoulder.

But it was too late for that.

"Huh- Orimura-sensei's room."

The looks of surprise and horror that came from every girl's faces made Sam himself cringe. Although he usually enjoyed these kinds of situation, the fact that there were so many girls with that face on made him himself feel awkward.  
"So it's dangerous to look for me."

Looking at the terrified faces of the girls, he couldn't hold it in anymore.

BAM!

His fist connected with the top of Ichika's head.

"You just placed the final nail in your coffin you know," he said with an annoyed tone.

"B-Blackburn-san! W-we can still see Orimura at lunchtimes too, right?"

"Y-Yeah… We don't have to enter the devil's la-"

BAM!

Another hit, this time to one of the girls, but certainly not from Sam's hand.

"Who's the devil?"

"Oh...shit…" he muttered.

The girls were now trembling non-stop at the figure who stood before them, clad in a black swimsuit which had quite the daring design.

"O-Ori-Orimura-sensei…" One of the girls stammered out.

But it seemed that the girls weren't the only one surprised as Ichika was staring at her, completely stunned by how she looked.

"Ichika… your drool's about to flow out."

"Wha..?! Ch-CHARL?! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? AHAHA…"

"You were enticed by it."

"W-WHAT? N-NO I WASN'T!"

Thinking along the same lines, Sam finally smiled slightly.

"That over the top reaction of yours says otherwise, Ikku," he threw playfully as he turned and walked towards the annex.

"Anyway, let's go!"

"Alright, hurry up and go have lunch!"

Simultaneously saying that in sync with Sam, she gestured for the students to head towards the dining hall.

"And what about you, sensei?"

"I'm going to enjoy this pitifully little free time."

Nodding, Chifuyu turned and headed towards the ocean.

"Oh and follow the gathering time. Don't be late."

With that, Sam walked side by side with Ichika towards the inner annex to get changed with the other students walking around them.

"Hey, hey! Did you see Orimura-sensei's swimsuit? So cool~"

"Ah~ I want to be like that as well…"

Around them conversations about Chifuyu sprung about from the girls, and Ichika couldn't help but feel awkward about hearing his sister being praised, unsure whether or not he should be happy or embarrassed. His brow slightly furrowed as he suddenly went deep into thought.

"Ichika, is Orimura-sensei your type?"

"Yeah, is she?"

"HUH? WHA- CHARL? SAM? WHAT'S WITH THAT ALL OF A SUDDEN?"

"Nothing… it's just that I found your reaction on seeing our swimsuits somewhat different."

"Yeah, you were clearly hypnotized by your sister's body, that's for sure."

Finishing his jest, he quickly ran off into the crowd before Ichika could throw a counter at him, weaving into the crowd and ducking out of Ichika's sights.

"Haa… There's so many enemies, and they're all so strong… It'll be even tougher with Orimura-sensei in the mix."

"She's amazing, that Orimura-sensei."

"I get the feeling that Ichika's missing the point here… anyway, let's go!"

Without thinking, Charlotte grabbed Ichika's hand and pulled him along.

Right into Sam, who'd just finished changing and was stepping out of the changing room.

"UWAA! SHIT!"

Without thinking, Sam ducked down and struck Ichika's midriff with his fist, sending the boy flying slightly before he landed, clutching his stomach.

"ICHIKA!"

"A- Shit… Sorry about that…"

Crouching, Sam pulled Ichika's arm up and swung it around him to support him whilst standing back up. He knew from experience that Ichika wouldn't be able to stand up properly for a while.

"Better get to the medics… I have no idea just how much power I hit with…"

With that, Charlotte quickly slung Ichika's other arm around her shoulder and the two of them began to walk towards the medical room, the crowd that had formed around them staring as they did so.

"I-I'm fine…" Ichika groaned out before trying to shake off both Sam and Charlotte.

"You sure?"

Without waiting for a reply, Sam let the other boy go and Ichika almost instantly began to drop, to which Sam quickly held him up again.

"See?"

Trudging along, the three of them made their way towards the medical room.

"Guhh… that Charlotte…"

Hiding in the shadows, Cecilia watched as the girl supported Ichika from one side, whereas an unseen person was helping him from the other. She hadn't seen what had happened outside the boy's changing room, but looking at it now, she couldn't help but feel jealous about the girl who had Ichika's arm wrapped around her shoulders. She watched as two- no three- of them rounded the corner to where the medical room would be and followed, but she lost sight of them the second she herself rounded the corner.

"Guhh…."

Inside the medical room, both Sam and Charlotte slowly laid Ichika out on the futon as the medical team came in and checked on Ichika's body. The area where Sam's fist had connected had turned an angry red and it wasn't really a pleasant sight to see.

"Ah… sorry about that Ikku…"

"N-no, it's okay," Ichika groaned back, the pain forcing him to speak in short, ragged bursts.

"I-I'm really sorry Ichika! I shouldn't have pulled you like that!"

Charlotte's face was one of guilt and worry as she looked at the external damage done by Sam's fist. She suddenly felt a hand on her head and looked beside her at Sam, who was looking at the reddened area of Ichika's stomach whilst keeping his hand on her head.

"It's not your fault now is it? So you shouldn't be so sad."

"Y-Yeah… It hurts, but I think I-I'm fine."

"Eh, don't be such a baby. You're a man aren't you?" One of the medics said suddenly. "It'd be best if you two left for lunch. We'll check him and we'll tell you the results."

Nodding, Sam stood up and walked towards the door, waiting for Charlotte to do the same. She stood up only after saying something to Ichika and Sam promptly opened the door for her before walking out himself.

"Well, looks like all we can do is wait."


	7. Shadow's Havoc: Spider's Fall Part 1

It was almost the end of lunchtime by the time Ichika had arrived at the dining hall. The doctors had did a quick medical checkup and scan and deemed the damage to be only minor but that it would hurt for a while more, but it was only half an hour after he had been laid down by his two friends that he could finally stand and move around without having a sharp pain going through his body, and because of that, he had almost missed the Salmon Sashimi everyone had been having. He'd proceeded to follow his plan for the rest of the day, swimming in the sea and playing on the beach until evening where he returned to his room for a shower, and at around seven, he finally went off to the dining hall to await dinner. Beside him on his right was Charlotte, and on his left was Cecilia- Sam was nowhere to be seen.

_Then again, that kid always did have a weak presence…_

He looked around, still struggling to find him as he identified Laura's figure sitting amongst several girls on one of the large tables set up with chairs, and on the other side of the room, in the row of students sitting in seiza opposite him with catering tables before them, was Houki.

_And still no Sam…_

It was then that he noticed the barely noticeable tips of Sam's hair poking from Houki's far side, his body hidden from view as he ate his sashimi.

"Ehh…"

Scooping a small amount of wasabi onto his sashimi, Ichika quickly picked up the piece and ate it absentmindedly, the sharp taste of wasabi bringing him back to his senses.

"Ahh! This is what real wasabi should taste like!"

Sam threw up the piece of fish he'd just picked up, catching it in the small plate he held in his other hand before actually picking it up and eating again. Beside him, he noticed Houki staring intently at something.

_Eheheh... maybe I should stop doing that... it's bad etiquette isn't it?_

"What's wrong, Shinonono-san?"

"E-eh?"

Seemingly shocked at Sam's sudden question, Houki looked at Sam with a surprised look on her face.

"A-ahh.. nothing…"

"You're staring at Ikku though, and so intently too…"  
"Ahh, Onii-chan, it's rude to poke your nose into other people's business you know!"

From Houki's other side came a voice he recognized to be Stella's.

"B-Blackburn-kun, you shouldn't…"

"Haa… Fine fine," he relented at Luna's voice and continued to eat his dinner.

"Ahh… well there is something…" Houki said out of the blue. "Tomorrow's…. the 7th of July…"

She mumbled the last part out, but Sam had been listening intently enough to hear it.

"Your birthday?" he chanced a guess.

She nodded and returned to eating her meal, the other two girls doing likewise as they went deep in thought as to what it meant, if there would be some special happening the next day, but it was Sam who noticed that Houki continued to stare intently at Ichika even as she ate her food, and when he glanced over, it seemed that a commotion had occurred there.

BAM

With a bang, the door behind Ichika opened and everyone suddenly stiffened their backs, the commotion disappearing instantaneously.

"Why can't you all just eat your meals quietly?" Chifuyu yelled from the door. She turned to her little brother. "And Orimura, quit making a commotion around here."

"I-I got it."

With that, the door closed again and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

"Huh… why must she be so bloody scary?" Sam muttered as he returned to his meal.

* * *

"So, you just gonna hang around for a bit then?"

Sam began to kick the air in front of him, rapidly shooting out and retracting his leg before lightly hopping to the other and unleashing another barrage into the air. Ichika was currently just sitting in the corner of the room, drinking green tea from a small clay mug. Both boys were in Sam's room and they'd been having a small conversation about the plan for the next day when Sam had decided to begin practicing his combat routine.

"Well, I'm gonna head back soon. Chifuyu-nee's probably waiting for me since I promised her a massage."

Sam lowered his feet and turned around, nodding towards his friend.

"Not gonna want to keep your sister waiting huh?"  
Ichika nodded back and gulped the last of his tea down.

"Come over later will you?"

Accepting the offer, Sam nodded as Ichika left the room, closing the door behind him before continuing his practice. For a few minutes, there was only the sound of cloth fluttering in the air as he continued his barrage, kicking this way and that as he moved smoothly, but it wasn't long until that silence was disturbed. He heard someone near his door, and stopped moving, waiting a while before continuing again. The person remained, unmoving in front of his door, and he heard several more footsteps coming from outside. Without thinking, he took a towel and wiped his sweat before moving to open the door.

And he almost burst in laughter at what he saw.

As he opened the door, four figures tumbled into his room- Cecilia, Houki, Rin and Charlotte. They had been looking for Ichika when they stumbled across his room, the only room with the words "Staff Room (M)" taped on the door, the M standing for male, and had thought that Ichika may have been inside his room with Sam, despite them knowing that his room was the one right across it- the one with the words "Staff Room" on it.

"Haa… you guys… He's in the other room…" Sam said as he pointed to the room across. He turned around and walked to where he dropped his pack and quickly put on a shirt as the girls stood up and dusted themselves before apologizing and making their way out, and as he was about to close the door, he noticed that they were now doing the same on Chifuyu's door.

"Hey… isn't that a l-?"

He stopped himself as he saw Laura put a finger to her lips and gestured for him to come over a second before Cecilia's voice came from around the corner.

"Hey, wha-?"

Again, Laura hushed Cecilia and gestured over, and Sam simply couldn't resist it. Shutting his door, he silently stepped through the corridor and placed his ear softly onto the door, Cecilia doing likewise.

And from inside came something he never expected.

"Chifuyu-nee, are you feeling tense because you haven't done it for a long time?"

"Why would I be? Mm! A- a little forceful…"

"Ah, sorry. How about here?"

"Ah! Th-There's no good… Uh!"

"You'll be comfortable soon. THere's quite a bit of fatigue you accumulated…"

"AAHHH!"

Inside their heads, a dirty scene was going on. They couldn't help it- the noise being made inside the room had the potential to bring wilder imaginations out from the depths of their minds.

"Hold on, Ichika."

Hearing Chifuyu suddenly say that, Sam instantly hid, pushing himself against the wall right next to the door and hoping that his naturally low profile would give him some salvation. But when the door was opened, Laura, who was at his feet, accidentally pulled him down in her frantic scramble to hold on to something.

"Ugah!"

Surprised, Sam could only twist his body and stop his fall with his hand, somehow ending up right on top of Laura, his body positioned right on top of hers as if pinning her down. They stayed like that for a few seconds as the others- even Chifuyu- watched, before Sam finally pushed himself up, his face all red as he kicked at the ground in an attempt to escape from the room, pushing himself in the direction of the door.

"Oh no you don't!"

Reacting quickly, Chifuyu grabbed Sam's left leg just as his torso exited the room, slamming him to the ground and promptly dragging him back in.

But he didn't give in without a fight.

Twisting his body, he attempted to do a potentially lethal dance move known as the 'Scorpion', forcing his right leg underneath his hips as he kicked up with the left and pushed up with both hands, but he wasn't nearly fast enough as Chifuyu dodged it as if it was nothing. But it had done exactly what he wanted it to do.

His leg was freed.

Or so he thought.

To finish off the move, the executor would roll on his knees and ankle using the momentum of the jump into a stand up, meaning that for Sam, who had his back towards Chifuyu, suddenly found himself standing directly in front of the teacher.

"You've done it this time, you brat!"

"Oh… shit…"

Showing no mercy, she grabbed the boy's arm and placed him into a lock before proceeding to throw him over her hip and onto the ground, taking care not to break his bones. But she was surprised at his reaction- he flipped over to his feet and despite his arm being in a lock, managed to land properly.  
"Ow… Ow… Okay fine, you win…"

Knowing that resistance is futile, Sam surrendered and felt the pain disappear from his arm as his arm was released. The others, even Laura who was a professionally trained soldier, had a look of genuine surprise on her face.

"Anyway…" Sam started. "What exactly…"

"Ah, Cecilia, you sure took your time!" Ichika suddenly said from the other side of the room, having just recovered from the shock of seeing someone actually holding their own against his sister in a fight. "Come over here."

Ichika patted the mattress that was laid out in front of him, prompting Cecilia over.

"Massage?"

Chifuyu nodded at Sam's question.

"What did you think it was?"

"E-eh…"

Looking around, Sam could see that even the other girls had a guilty and embarassed look on their face. Except for Laura.

"Well, naturally, we wer-"

She was cut off by the other three who quickly covered her mouth with their hands.

"Ahahah… it's nothing really," Rin answered with an awkward laugh.

"Y-yeah! Nothing at all!" Houki continued, putting emphasis on the "nothing".

"You know, you guys are really weird," Ichika piped in from behind.

Cecilia was now lying downwards on the mattress and Ichika had already begun the massage.

"Speaking of which, I remembered that Ikku was pretty damned good at massaging…"

This drew strange and jealous looks from the four girls beside him.

"... Or so I heard."

He tried to cover up what he had said with a lie, but it clearly didn't work as the girls closed in on him.

"Explain," Laura coldly ordered.

And faced with such circumstances, he was unable to do anything but spill it out.  
"Well uhm… It was actually after a certain incident. Ikku just offered me a massage out of the blue so…"

"But you did look tired."

Looking up from his work, Ichika threw Sam a small smile across the room, which Sam replied to with a small smile of his own.

"Can't deny that now, can I?"

Looking at Ichika who continued to massage Cecilia's back, he couldn't help but want one himself and was about to ask when Cecilia suddenly gave a cry of mixed pain and pleasure, completely stopping him from saying what he was going to say.

"A-ah! Sorry! I pressed too hard!"

It was clear that Cecilia had said something back but he couldn't hear what, and he wasn't exactly able to move towards where the two were- not with the four girls still cornering him and intently staring at him. He raised his hands in surrender as he failed to understand what they wanted from him and pressed his back against the wall.

"W-What? What is it this time?"

There was no reply but it seemed that they wanted him to tell them more about something- something that he wasn't quite sure of.

"You were childhood friends with Ichika right? Then tell us more about him!"

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a cry came from where Cecilia lay, and all eyes went in that direction.  
"Oh you sneaky little brat!"

It was unclear what exactly was happening, but from his point of view, it seemed as if Chifuyu had suddenly pulled up the skirt of Cecilia's yukata and was examining what was under it, and naturally, despite the angle disallowing him to see what was underneath, Sam instantly averted his eyes away, staring straight at the wall adjoining the door.

"Wearing such an underwear that doesn't match your age, you're quite the daring one aren't you?"

"S-SENSEI! PLEASE LET GO OF ME!" Cecilia yelled in panic, unable to do anything due to her position.

"What? You think you could do something erotic like 'that' in front of a teacher, you fifteen year old girl?"

"S-SENSEI…"

But before anyone could say anything about the current situation, the door burst open and Stella entered, looking left and right at the interior of the room.

"Onii-chan! What are you doing here?"

"E-Eh…"

"Hey, you, bursting in like that. Don't you have anything to say?"

"A-Ah… Yes… Sorry, Sensei!"

Bowing down, Stella replied before looking at Sam again. From where she stood, it seemed as if he had four girls fighting for him, though she knew otherwise.

"Anyway, Onii-chan! I thought we promised to play games together!"

"Oh… right… I forgot…."

"Anyway, you've had enough of massaging right, Ichika? You go get some rest, whereas you girls…"

Chifuyu pointed to the four girls still cornering Sam as well as Stella, who stood beside the door.

"Come and take a seat."

Standing up, Sam waited for the girls to shift themselves towards Chifuyu, with Cecilia sitting back up and joining them, before moving towards the door, waiting for Ichika to join him.

"Oh and go take a bath. Wouldn't be good if the room's filled with your sweat."

Nodding, Ichika left behind a quick gesture to the girls, telling them all to relax before turning and leaving the room.

"And Sam, please don't try to spy on us just because we can barely sense your presence. It's rude."

"Wha-? What makes you think I'd even want to do that?"

Giving Chifuyu a confused look, he scratched his head slightly before turning around and making a peace symbol with his right hand, throwing the gesture back to the room before he stepped off and closed the door.

"Heh… this is interesting…" he said to himself as he walked back to his room. "To think that Chifuyu'd want to talk to the girls in private… this kind of event can only end one way…"

Setting up his bed, he was soon proven right as after a few minutes of silence in his room, a muffled chorus of "Eeh~..." was heard from the adjoining room.

"Oh yeah," Chifuyu suddenly muttered. The reactions of the girls after she announced that she wouldn't be giving her brother away so easily had been priceless, but another question piqued her mind.

"So now I've known what you think of Ichika… what do you think about the other him?"

She knew that they knew who the "other him" was, the only other boy other than Ichika that was in the school and she awaited their answers. She noticed that out of all of them, only Charlotte and Rin had shifted slightly at the mention of him, whereas the others simply looked inquisitive.

"Hmm… Well, he's nice I guess… but you'd have thought he was quite weak…" Houki was the first to reply.

"H-He's quite nice… I guess f-fate hit me twice…" Rin muttered slightly. "With… with him coming back and all…"

"Heh… Never underestimate that kid Shinonono- he was the one who took down the 'Spiders' six years ago."

At this, Rin and Houki's expression turned into one of pure shock.

Even though she no longer lived in the Ichika's neighbourhood at the time, the news was everywhere that the notorious 'Spiders' had been defeated and captured, most of them with wounds on their bodies and only a couple left unharmed.

"W-was that why-" Rin began, but was cut off by Chifuyu before she could go on any further.

"And what about you four?"

"He's my onii-chan. Enough said," Stella went first.

"Well, he seems really reliable I guess… But still not as reliable as Ichika~" it was Cecilia's turn to speak.

"He's quite interesting- I'd like to see his true strength someday…" Laura said, trailing off as she realized that she may just get a glimpse of it soon if Chifuyu decided to explain about the event with the 'Spiders'.

But now, everyone looked at Charlotte who was slightly fidgeting with the bracelets on her arm.

"And what about you?"

"E-Eh?"

Surprised, Charlotte's back shot straight up and she almost tumbled backwards because of the sudden movement.

"U-uhm… He's a lot like Ichika… He's nice I guess…" she muttered softly, as if she was embarrassed about something.

"So needless to say, you like him too?"

"I-it's not like that! It's just that…"

Laughing slightly at Charlotte's red face, Chifuyu took another gulp of her beer.

"Anyway, since you four have no idea what the 'Spiders' is," she said, gesturing towards the last four girls to talk. "I'll explain to you now what happened six years ago. Maybe you'll understand just how strong he truly is, Laura."


	8. Author's Note (2)- A thanks

Yo guys, it's only a few days away from this story being one month old hahah~ Just wanted to thank you guys who followed this story, whether or not you guys have followed it since its early days or just joined in, thanks for the support :D Like I've said before, this fanfic will have quite a few original events whilst running parallel to the LN so please don't kill me since this is a warning that there will be spoilers from the LN (and if you've watched the anime, some events have been changed around). I will remain with the LN writing format (I enjoy using the more light-and-easy format hahah) and like I've said before, events from the anime will occur as well.

Now another thing, these chapters are actually pre-written, it's just that I like to update them on Saturdays (+8 GMT)~

And one final thing- this next chapter preludes to one of the later chapters~ I won't tell you what it is but keep following for more~

RafaleRevive524, Out~


	9. Shadow's Havoc: Spider's Fall Part 2

His feet slowly tapped on the tarmac as he walked through the deserted road, back in the direction of his house. On his back, a black and white school bag was hung and he wore a navy Gakuran coupled with navy pants and a small insignia was on his left chest- a blooming cherry blossom in front of a kite shield base with several thorny vines creeping around the edges; the insignia of the Sakurasen Primary School*, the school that was renowned for its excellent education and has received many wonderful reviews from parents. His hair was spiked and angled to the left, and on his right wrist, he wore a black watched trimmed with orange. This boy was Samuel Blackburn six years ago, back when he was only a normal, young student who knew nothing of the outside world.

Or so it seemed.

There was no sun in the sky anymore, but the roadside lamps lit the way for him as he walked through the now deserted road, and he knew that the time had been the cause of all this. At six in the evening, it's rare to see a man walking up and down this particular area, let alone all by himself for fear of the gangs that infest this part of the city, and yet, this boy continued on his way, confidently striding forward without thinking of the dangers that may befall him. He reached back around his neck and pulled on a couple of earphones, fishing a small phone out of his pocket and setting a song on.

"Ahh dammit, that took way longer than expected…" he said to himself. "Oh well, better hurry it up…"

Having just completed his punishment of cleaning up his classroom by himself, Sam, who'd cross this area every morning and afternoon on his way to and from school, knew that this area, in particular, this street, was infested with thugs and night-gangs, especially during the evening. But this was the only route that he could take to reach his house, and sooner or later, he knew that he'd run into trouble with the 'Spiders', just as he had with any other gang around. Thinking this, he lightly touched the pendant with the distress beacon on it. Apart from the intense training his uncle had made him go through since he was 3, his uncle had given the pendant to him just a year ago and he'd been told that it would directly alert the nearest station of suspicious activity and that officers would come around in minutes, but he'd hope that he wouldn't need to use it.

"Hey kid," a gruff voice said from behind.

He stopped and cocked his head back, looking at the adult male wearing what had been a white sleeveless top but was now ripped in places and clearly showing results of wear and tear and on his shoulder was the tattoo of a black spider. The man wore a pair of blue jeans, ripped on the knees with evidence of heavy wear and in his hand, he held a long, thick machete, its blade polished to a good shine.

"Hand over all your money."

"Huh. As if," Sam said as he slid his right feet back, angling his body into that of a fighting stance, raising his hands before him as he prepared to fight. "A member of the 'Spiders' huh… Who'd have thought that I'd get to see one today?"

Provoking the man, Sam clenched his fists and prepared himself as the man rushed towards him, swinging the machete down at his head. He sidestepped the man and grabbed his wrist, twisting his body and positioning himself for a shoulder throw, using the forward momentum to fling the man over his shoulder and putting him into a lock upon landing even as the impact knocked the man's breath out of his lungs. The machete clattered onto the floor as the man struggled, unable to scream from the shock and pain right before Sam knocked him out cold with a quick, hard chop to the neck, standing up and preparing to leave the area.

But others had already reached him.

Looking around, he saw no one but heard the sound of approaching feet, and knowing that more enemies had come, he bent down and picked up the machete, holding it in a forward grip similar to a single handed sword. It wasn't long before figures appeared from the smaller alleyways of the street, each of them sporting some kind of close combat weapon, from knives to bats and even swords, each of them proudly showing off their black spider tattoo.

"You took him down eh, kid?" One of the gruff men spoke, the one holding a traditional katana in his right hand. "But think you can take us all?"

Raising the knife and shifting his right feet back, Sam prepared himself for the fight for his life as he grinned.

"Bring it."

"Huh… that took long enough."

Yawning, Chifuyu walked on the tarmac, holding in her hand the sword bag in which she stored her bamboo shinai. Her dark blue skirt fluttered slightly as she picked up the pace, looking straight ahead with eyes akin to that of a warrior as she softly increased the strength of her grip on the bag. She was currently walking in what was often referred as the "thug street", an area that was infested with thugs and night-gangs doing their unlawful businesses. Of course, they only appeared after the sun had set.

And right now, the sun had set.

Looking left and right, the seventeen year old girl scanned the surroundings for any potential attackers, but after going even more than halfway through the "street", none had come and she thought something was off.

Until she heard the clash of steel on tarmac from somewhere ahead of her.

Kicking the ground, Chifuyu ran to where she heard the sound come from, hoping that it was a gang fight and not some hopeless victim being preyed by one of the groups.

But her hopes were crushed when she saw the situation.

Before her, at least twenty men stood with their backs to her, and from the gaps, she could see they were surrounding one person- a young boy, judging from the glimpses. Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening however, as whenever one moved to attack, he was either sent flying back in a matter of moments or thrown up to the sky, and the level of finesse and skill being displayed by the boy was one to be reckoned with.

"Who…"

One of the men that were sent flying skidded to a halt right next to her and she could see the black spider tattoo on his right arm, her eyes widening even more as she shifted her gaze from the battle and back to the man.

"A single boy taking on the 'Spiders'? Impossible…"

The 'Spiders', as they were known, were the most notorious and powerful night-gang in Tokyo, claiming many areas for themselves, and were rumoured to be highly skilled in combat- but seeing them being single handedly dealt with right in front of her eyes was something she wouldn't have thought to see in her entire life.

But to add to her further surprise, the boy who now wielded a katana in one hand and a machete in the other was a person she knew- a classmate of her brother's, one that she'd often see standing in the background, far off from the other students.

"I-is that…"

She squinted slightly, making out the details of his face.

"Him...?"

"You monster!"

Screaming, one of the men swung a large crowbar at Sam who easily deflected it with the back edge of his katana, scraping the blade along the bar and quickly but carefully slashing the man's shoulder with the tip of the blade, cutting deep into his flesh before spinning back out of reach and dodging an attack that came from the edge of his peripheral vision, striking the other man in the gut with the handle of his machete.

"I'm not done yet you bastard!" The first man yelled again, swinging the heavy metal bar down at Sam's head with his remaining hand, putting his full force into the strike.

"So you say," Sam grinned as he gracefully sidestepped the incoming bar, pulling his left hand back.

And stabbing the machete deep into the man's gut.

"You sure you're not done yet?" he asked, grinning sadistically as he raised the katana in the other hand.

"Well I'm not!"

Another voice came from behind and Sam barely managed to get out of the way before a pike, fashioned from a sharpened steel pole, passed by where his head had been. Grinning, he spun around and kicked the ground, cutting diagonally upwards and gouging deep into the man's shoulder before knocking him out cold with a sharp strike to the back of the head from the pommel of the sword.  
"Alright, four to go."

Looking around, the four men had terrified looks on their faces. They had all fought alongside the others but were lucky enough to not have been dispatched yet, but even then, they were sweating heavily. Their breaths were ragged and they could barely hold their weapon up properly, and yet, there was this lone nine year old boy easily dispatching member after member of the most dangerous gang in Tokyo.

"Who's next?"

Hesitating, one of the men who wielded a pair of combat daggers approached Sam as the boy threw the sword aside, raising his fists again as from behind him, another wielding a large blade began to move. The dual blade struck first, punching at Sam with the blades held in reverse, following up with punch after punch as Sam dodged each and every attack, and even then, he was aware of the sword wielding man behind him, the one who moved in for the kill with a gut stab.

"Good luck with that," he said as he ducked underneath the combat daggers of the dual blade and spun out of the way of the sword wielding thug, catching the dual blade off guard and knocking him flat on the ground before leaping back and preparing for another attack.  
And as expected, came another attack.

The thug twisted his body as he ran, hoping to catch Sam with a full powered swing of the broad sword, but Sam had expected this and twisted his body aside, stepping into the opponent as he caught the thug's arm and flipped him over, disarming the thug and holding the blade in his right hand as the thug landed with a thud. He looked over at the remaining two and grinned.

"W-W-We… We surrender…!" one stammered out in fear as he dropped the knuckle dusters he held in his hands, raising them as a symbol of peace.

"...P-please don't hurt us… we've lost!" the other cried out as he dropped the staff he held.

His grin softening into a normal smile of a school boy, Sam dropped the sword and thumbed the button in his pendant, leaning against one of the walls as he awaited the sound of sirens to come.

The fight had only lasted fifteen minutes, but in that time, he'd defeated a total of twenty four men, personally disarming fourteen, knocking out seven and incapacitating one, whereas the last two had simply surrendered.

"You guys put up a good fight," Sam said as he turned and gave the two remaining members of the 'Spiders' a slight wave, walking off in the direction of his home as the sirens grew louder and louder. "But it's a shame you won't be doing it again anytime soon."

"He just… defeated the 'Spiders' all by himself…" an astonished Chifuyu muttered as she made her way back to her home.

"Just how strong is he?"

The very next day, the headlines on the newspaper read- "Spiders defeated! The mystery gang-hunter takes down another large prey" alongside "Mystery gang-hunter from Sakurasen?" and the school was abuzz with the news, students here and there gossiping about the rumour that a boy from their school had taken down the entire 'Spiders' down. There had been news on this "mysterious gang-hunter" for a while now, but this was the biggest one so far. On the article, one of the members who had regained consciousness had reportedly admitted that they were defeated by one man, and that on the man's jacket was the insignia of the Sakurasen Primary School, meaning that the man was a boy after all.

But even though more than one of the members clarified it, it was impossible to believe.

After all, what kind of nine year old boy would defeat the strongest gang in Japan?

* * *

"S-So… the rumours were true then? That a boy from my old school defeated the 'Spiders?" Houki voiced out her disbelief. Despite her having moved around throughout her early years, the rumour had become famous due to the article written about the takedown of the 'Spiders', but she had never expected anything like that to be true.

"So… he was really the one who took down the gang? Why didn't he say anything?" Rin raised her voice.

Shrugging, Chifuyu simply took another swig of her beer as she pondered upon the answer for a few seconds.

"It could be because he didn't want anyone to know…"  
Trailing off, Chifuyu looked towards the door and stood up, striding across before opening it and looking around, and surely enough, just coming out of his own door, was Sam.

_So he hadn't been listening on us… had he?_

"Oh, hey Orimura-Sensei. You finished chatting to the girls?"

Shaking her head, she gestured to him as to question what he was doing.

"Just thought I'd take in a bit of the night air for a while," he replied, smiling as he stepped into his sandals and closed the door, walking off in the other direction whilst throwing a backwards wave at Chifuyu.

"That kid…"

Re-entering her room, the girls looked at her in wonder.

"No, it's nothing. Anyway, it could be just because he didn't want anyone to know of this and start more rumours about it."

"But if he's that strong…" Cecilia started, her face still in shock as she tried to process what she'd just been told. "Then why is his IS piloting skill… not as strong? I mean he should technically have taken both Charlotte and Ichika down during that first match, right?"

Chifuyu shrugged again and looked at Laura, who had a hand on her chin as she thought of something.

"You know, I think I'd like to duel him now… IS or non-IS, I just want to feel his strength for myself," Laura broke the silence.

"No way, Laura-chan… you'd do that? But what if Nii-chan beats you? What then?"

"Well, I only said I want to feel his strength for myself. Win or lose, I get to know either way right?" Laura replied, shrugging as she did so. "And if what we heard was true, then I'd most probably lose."

"But Orimura-sensei wouldn't have a reason to lie to us right? Which means that… he really is strong…"

Charlotte's words had the others thinking as they themselves began to ponder on the true strength of the boy that they'd befriended.

"Well, either way… Ichika should be coming back soon so…"

And right at that moment, the door slid open and Ichika appeared on the doorway.

"A-am I intruding on something?"

* * *

***Sakurasen Primary School is just a random name I thought up off for the primary school that Ichika, Sam, Rin and Houki went to. Since there wasn't any actual names of the school officially (LN, Anime, Manga etc.), I came up with one. **

**Author's Note: So we see Sam being real OP here, but don't worry if you think he's not humane~ There'll be more development on him later on~**


	10. Silver Angel of Death: Heat Haze Dreams

The suit turned into shadow as it moved to the right, dodging the stream of explosive plasma rounds headed straight for it before it accelerated towards the attacker, a gleaming sword in both hands. More shots came from the silver suit it faced, and again, it turned into a shadow, moving left and right as it continued to dodge the stream of fire coming at it.  
"Let's go! [Revive!]"  
A male's voice could be heard from the black-clad machine as it suddenly reached striking distance of the silver machine, forcing it into a deadlock with its swords as the silver machine grabbed the blades and attempted to pry it free, but the Revive simply would not budge.  
"Laura, your turn!"  
Yelling, the Revive suddenly broke off from the silver machine as high speed rounds made impact with its shields, smashing into the machine and sending it reeling despite the PIC unit on the IS. As the silver machine recovered, the black Revive came in again, wielding twin submachine guns as behind him, an orange Revive followed, wielding her own submachine guns. From farther back, beam rounds could be seen hurling themselves at the silver machine , dispersing off its shields as it turned towards them. However, it simply turned its back to them and focused on one other machine- a pink one floating just below it, firing its shoulder mounted Impact Cannons at the thing- and without thinking, it flew up, spinning in midair as it spread its brilliant white wings and unleashed a barrage of explosive plasma rounds at it.  
"Rin!"  
Breaking off, the orange Revive flew towards the Shenlong, putting its thrusters into maximum output.  
"No! Charlotte!"  
The black Revive watched as the orange Revive miraculously arrived at the position of the Shenlong, pulling it away from the rain of fire as it deployed its shield to do its best to protect it and the Shenlong from the incoming fire.  
But it didn't survive for long.  
Without relenting, the silver machine continued to open fire, aiming its rounds just in front of the suit in order to hit it, and hit it did. The explosions tore apart both the orange and pink suits, ripping chunks of metal from the larger pieces and injuring the pilots heavily.  
"Charlotte! Rin!"  
"Why you!"  
Hearing another voice, the black Revive looked back up again, seeing the white suit, Byakushiki, zoom in on its target as it pulled back its sword to strike.  
But the impossible happened.  
As the white suit propelled its blade forward, the silver machine ducked down and stabbed its hand into the torso of the pilot, piercing through the Absolute Defence barrier and digging deep into the gut of the pilot before it clenched its fist and ripped its hand back out, gouging a large hole in the torso of the man.  
"Ichika!"  
He watched as the white suit fell to the sea, its pilot wholly unconscious as he tried to reach out to it, gunning his thrusters in an attempt to save his friend.  
But another scream took his attention.  
The wings of the silver machine had wrapped itself around one of the two sniper units, the Blue Tears, and what had happened inside had been hidden, but as the wings unwrapped itself, it was clear that what had once been the elegant blue suit was now but a tangled mess of metal and wires.  
"Cecilia!"  
Knowing he was unable to save the girl, he instead began to move towards a red suit floating in the sky, still firing away with its sniper rifle, its beautiful wings made of light spread out behind it like a dragon's.  
But even then, he was too late.  
Closing the distance in a heartbeat, the silver machine did the same to the Dragoon Stryker as it did to the Byakushiki, punching its arm through the chest of the pilot and ripping it out again, destroying the extra armouring that had surrounded the girl's torso and creating a hole in the middle of her chest, holding her heart in its hands before it crushed the still beating organ.  
"Dammit… Stella!"  
There had been seven of them, but now, only two remained- him and the girl named Laura.  
"HAA!"  
As a female voice came from above, he knew that it was Laura charging in for an attack and the boy instantly activated the [Shadow's Veil] system, activating the thrusters at its maximum output as it raced to reach the other black suit in time.  
But it never did.  
As Laura stabbed forward with the beam saber of her Schwarzer Roegen, the silver machine had grabbed her hand and locked it in place, its brilliantly shining wings spreading out behind it before thousands of rounds fired from its wings, shredding apart the black IS as metal, and even bits of flesh, began to fly from her body.  
"No! Laura!"  
Releasing the corpse, the silver suit looked at the boy next, seemingly grinning at him with cruel eyes despite its machinic appearance, and as the boy looked up at the suit, he began to feel woozy.  
"No… this can't be real…"  
Dropping his weapons, he grabbed his head, his sight beginning to blur and darken.  
"No… no…"  
And as he looked up at the machine, he swore that he could see the heat haze of the hot summer day shimmer, transforming itself until finally, the figure of the boy could be seen, a black figure tinged red by the rays of the sun.  
"This… this isn't real right?" he tentatively asked the figure in the haze, his voice choked with emotion at the thought of his friends dying, leaving him all alone.  
At that, the heat haze laughed a mocking laugh, its eyes turning into one of sadistic cruelty as it stared down at the boy who could only hold his head.  
"This is all real," came the reply in a mocking tone.  
And with that, the boy's already darkening vision almost reached the point of pure emptiness, and he could swear that the heat haze laughed once more as it raised its hand in farewell, the mocking tone ringing in his ears even as the boy faded into the darkness.

"GAH!"  
Sitting up in his futon, Sam looked around at his room, breathing heavily as he took in the view of his own room in the resort. Wiping the cold sweat off his face, he looked over at the clock hung on the wall opposite him.  
12:30 AM  
"So… it was all a dream huh…"  
Raising his left arm, he looked at his IS in its standby form, grabbing it as he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, wondering if he could use its power to protect his friend. Reopening his eyes, he gave himself a sad smile at how desperate he really was, knowing that he only wanted to protect his friends so that he would not have to feel lonely again, as he did before meeting Ichika and Rin during primary. He recalled that even though his uncle had cared for him and trained him, he was practically a stranger to the boy, never properly having talks like a parent and child, talks of the future and of irrelevant things just to deepen their bond.  
And he'd also never had any friends to begin with.  
Having a weak presence had made people unintentionally avoid him, and none attempted to approach him, let alone befriend him, and he had been unable to approach anyone in return- not until he'd made his first friend in Ichika. He sighed as he laid his head back down onto his pillow, pulling the blanket up to his chin as he stared at the ceiling, laughing slightly at the absurdity of the situation.  
"It's all just a dream… I shouldn't get worked up over it… right?"  
He tried to reason with himself.  
"After all… nothing can break through the [Absolute Defense], right?"  
But even as he did, tears began to form on the edges of his eyes. The thought of his friends dying had killed him inside, and now, he began to let it out.  
"Please God, don't let it happen…"  
And only after Sam had cried out all his tears did he finally stop, falling soundly asleep in his futon with the notion of death fading from his mind.

* * *

The four classes stood neatly organized lines on the beach before Chifuyu, each of them ready in their piloting suits. It was the second day of the beach school training camp and it was a day meant for testing and collecting data, and it was exceptionally tough for those with personal machines as they would have to do test runs on a large number of equipments for their units.

_Well at least I get to share half the work with Charlotte…_ Sam thought as he glanced over at the bracer around his left arm that was his unit in standby form, and as both him and Charlotte's machines were [Revives], their workload would technically be shared amongst the two of them. He looked around a bit more and noticed the crates that were strewn all around the beach- the equipment that was to be tested had been transported there during the night by the different companies.  
"Is everyone he- Hey! The latecomer over there!"  
"Ye-yes!"  
The sixth girl yelped as she joined the rest of the personal machine holders, and unexpectedly, it was Laura.  
"Explain the IS Core Network, now."  
"Okay! The IS Core network is a network originally designed to send co-ordinate information of the target in space by using all sorts of signals to exchange data. Currently, it allows pilots to communicate with each other through public and private channels, but through recent researches, the core is found to attract all sorts of signals through a sharing method as fuel to 'evolve'. As Professor Shinonono viewed these as part of the machine's evolution, she allowed them to develop continuously, meaning that it's still undergoing development."  
A few moments passed as Laura finished her explanation of the IS Network.  
"Excellent, as usual. I'll let you off for being late then."  
Visibly relaxing, Laura let out a huge sigh of relief as she stepped back into the line, glancing over to where Ichika was before returning her focus on Chifuyu.  
"Alright, each class is to carry their equipment and begin testing. Personal unit pilots are to test out their own equipment. Move fast!"  
"Yes!"  
The row of students quickly dispersed as several students mounted in the available [Uchiganes] and [Revives], quickly transporting their class' equipment.  
"Ah, Shinonono, come over here."  
"Hm? Yes!"  
Slowly lowering the crate she held in her hands, she piloted the [Uchigane] closer to the group before dismounting.  
"From today onwards, you'll be pilo-"  
"CHHIIIIIIIII-CHAAAAAAN!~"  
Chifuyu's words were cut off by a loud shout from somewhere, and she closed her eyes as she showed an annoyed yet embarrassed look, putting her hand on her face as a loud, continuous thumping could be heard, and Houki quickly hid behind the pilotless [Uchigane]. Sam looked towards the direction from where the voice came from and noticed a cloud of dust closing in fast, but he was too shocked to react when he saw a girl in a blue dress run straight up to him and jumped, using his face as a stepping stone to boost herself higher.  
"UGYAH!"  
"Onii-chan!"  
Everyone stared in shock at Sam, who now lay on the floor with a red mark the shape of a shoe.  
"Tabane…"  
And as Sam recovered, they all looked at Chifuyu, who was now keeping the girl an entire arm's length away from her, grabbing her head and pushing it in order to prevent the purple haired girl from coming any closer.  
"Eh.. you're that girl from yesterday…" Sam said in disbelief as he stood back up again.  
A small, unhearable conversation occurred between both of them before the girl turned and jumped on top of the kneeling [Uchigane], looking at Houki from above.  
"Ya!"  
"H-hello…"  
"Hehe~ Long time no see! Houki-chan's grown so much now especially the br-"  
Her words were cut by Houki who jumped up and rapped the girl's head with her hand.  
"Shut up."  
"Wha- Houki-chan's so mean~"  
Playfully rubbing her head, the girl jumped down from the suit and stood in front of the small group of personal unit users, but even then, she seemed to have gathered quite an audience as other students began to stop and look at her from behind.  
"Ahh, excuse me but uhm… people that are not involved aren't-" Yamada-sensei began, but was shortly cut off.  
"Hmm? Involved in IS you mean? If that's the case, then I'm currently the most important person!"  
"Oi, Tabane! Introduce yourself already. None of my students know who you are," Chifuyu quickly ordered, trying to regain control over the situation.  
"Ehh…! That's troublesome… But I guess it can't be helped!"  
Twirling around like an actor on stage, the girl made a v-sign with her right hand and raised it over her right eye, closing the other as her left hand went to her hips.  
"Hello! I'm the genius, Tabane-san! Well, that's all for me!"  
Twirling around again, she didn't hesitate to turn both hands into v-signs and thrust them out towards her 'audience', and finally realizing that who they were seeing was the genius professor who invented the IS, the students burst into conversation and behind Chifuyu was the trembling form of Yamada-sensei.  
"Ahh… what should I do in this situation?"  
"Just continue to help out the other classes and ignore this person. All right! Everyone, back to work now!"  
Her voice carrying over the area, it wasn't long before the students dispersed and continued with the equipment testing.  
"Ahh… what about the thing I asked from you?"  
"About that…" Tabane let out a small laugh as she pointed up to the sky. "Eyes in the sky everyone~!"  
All eight students and Chifuyu looked up, noticing an object falling from the sky, its surface reflecting the light as it moved through the air…  
Straight towards Sam.  
"GODDAMMIT WHY? AM I BEING TARGETED?"  
Yelling this, Sam waited for the right moment before he suddenly spun on the spot, shifting his foot forward and deploying his IS's shield, taking the impact with his body, his leg bending slightly before reangling his shield and forcing the object down onto the ground.  
"Gwahh… that hurt…." he casually said, undeploying his shield and shaking the blood back into his hand before noticing the dropped jaw of every other person in the vicinity, excluding Chifuyu and Tabane.  
"W-what? Why is everyon-"  
"Did he just…"  
"Block a falling object…"  
"Without his PIC…?"  
Ichika, Houki and Rin completed each other's words as they continued to stare at Sam, who was completely confused as to why they were shocked.  
"Sam… how heavy was that?" Charlotte tentatively asked.  
"Eh… I'd say somewhere around five, ten kilos?"  
Sam shrugged as he turned his head back to the diamond shaped object that had very nearly crushed him.  
"What's in this anyway, Tabane-san?"  
As soon as he said that, the metal plates forming the diamond fell apart, revealing an IS, its armouring painted a brilliant red and its form resembling something of a flower.  
"Jya jyan~! This is Houki-chan's personal IS, made personally by Tabane-san!" Tabane announced excitedly as she indicated the IS that had just landed in the middle of all the students. "It's name is [Akatsubaki], and by the way, it's superior to all current IS!"  
"Akatsubaki… red camellia?" Sam questioned slightly, noting the shape of the IS, to which Tabane gleefully nodded.  
"I-I'll leave it to you then," Houki suddenly said, stuttering slightly as her sister gleefully nodded again.  
"Let's get started then."  
Pressing the button on a small remote, [Akatsubaki] activated, its form unfurling itself into that of a regular, unpiloted IS in terms of anatomy, automatically kneeling as Houki climbed in.  
"I've inputted Houki-chan's data to a certain level. Now I just need to update the recent values!"  
Summoning a keyboard in midair, Tabane didn't hesitate to begin her work, her fingers flying over the keyboard as the data was rapidly updated on what appeared to be a set of six hololithic display floating before her. She made several comments to the changes she noted in Houki's body but she never stopped typing even as she did so.  
"Alright, optimization complete, as expected of me~"  
Despite saying this, she continued to type away.  
"This suit is a close-range type that's suited for an all rounder, so I guess you'll get used to it soon. It even has an automatic support system! Onee-chan prepared them all!"  
"T-Thanks…"  
Finishing up the updating and optimization, Tabane closed the screens and turned to Ichika, but before she could say anything, she finally noticed the second boy who had almost been crushed earlier.  
"Ahh, a second boy!"  
Sam had to resist placing his face in his palm as he thought of the fact that she only noticed him then, and instead simply nodded at the girl.  
_Are you saying that even after stepping on my face, nearly crushing me and actually responding to what I said, you only noticed me NOW? _Sam thought as he resisted the urge to yell that out loud.  
"Ahh, then is it okay if I see your unit? Ii-kun, I wanna see [Byakushiki] as well!"  
Nodding, Ichika grabbed his right arm and was soon engulfed in light before a moment later, he appeared, encased in [Byakushiki]'s armour. Tabane then turned to Sam, who quickly nodded and moved away from Ichika to ensure there was enough space to deploy his IS. He was soon engulfed in light, and, like Ichika, reappeared a moment later, donning the armour of his [Rafale Revive Custom III].  
"Ahh! A [Revive]! So you're the one that everyone in the Dunois corporation's been talking about!"  
"What?"  
"What?"  
Both Sam and Charlotte reacted simultaneously.  
"H-how…"  
"I've got my sources," Tabane replied, winking slightly as she pulled out several wires from somewhere on her person.  
"Anyway, let me see the values~"  
Inserting the plugs into [Byakushiki], the screens appeared again and Tabane clearly looked surprised.  
"Wah~ To think that it'd actually form a diagram like this! Is it because Ii-kun's a guy?"  
Sam looked at the display floating before the girl, noting the evolution paths that the IS took- the diagram- before shrugging.  
"Anyway, let's see yours!"  
Pulling the cables out from the slots in [Byakushiki]'s form, she quickly plugged them into the [Revive], the screens appearing once more before her.  
"Wah~ It's quite similar in some aspects too!"  
"Uhm… Am I done here?" Houki cut in, standing awkwardly in her IS.  
"Hmm? Yeah, you are. Why not take it around for a test flight?~" Tabane answered as she pulled out the cables. "It should move as you want it to."  
Nodding, Houki bent her body down slightly before suddenly taking off, the huge acceleration provided by her suit creating a shockwave that sent particles of sand flying everywhere as the suit moved faster than any other suit to date.  
"Damn… she's fast…"  
"What do you think~? Faster than you thought~?"  
"Y-Yeah…" Houki's voice resounded through the comms.  
"Then try swinging your swords! The right one's [Amatsuki] and the left one's [Karaware]. Sending the special weapon data to you now~!"  
Summoning another keyboard and display, Tabane quickly typed into it, sending the data to Houki's IS as she drew both swords out.  
"Let's add on~ [Amatsuki]'s used to attack one person! It will create a barrage of energy lances that can turn an enemy into a beehive if used properly~"  
Above, Houki shifted her body into a stance akin to that of a Western sword and shield style, yet with a tinge of the Japanese two sword style, and as she swung the blade, several red coloured orbs of energy formed in midair and shot out towards the clouds, peppering it with holes as the bullets of energy passed through it.  
"It can reach the range of an assault rifle at best, but it's balanced out by [Akatsubaki]'s speed~"  
Nodding, she prepared to strike with her second sword, raising it as she prepared to slice downwards.  
"Next is the [Karaware]~! It can create an arc of energy and extend the range of the slash, so it's super useful against groups! Try hitting some of them here!"  
Raising her hand, she summoned something similar to a missile pod, firing all sixteen of its missiles at once.  
"Hey, Tabane-san…" Sam suddenly said.  
"What is it~? You don't need to worry, she's in an IS so she'll be fine~"  
"No, it's not that… that pod that this thing came in- it had an active PIC didn't it?"  
"Oh~? You noticed?"  
Above, the missiles detonated as a large pink arc of energy cut through them with ease as Sam nodded.  
"The impact should've been more than what I took, logically speaking- an IS isn't that light. And I also noticed that there wasn't any proper physical contact between my shield and the pod."  
Chuckling slightly, Tabane turned her attention back to Houki.  
"Ufufu~ Looks like we've got an interesting one right here," she muttered to herself whilst nodding away and smiling happily at the results of her work on the [Akatsubaki].  
"TH-TH-TH- THIS IS BAD ORIMURA-SENSEI!"  
Running in from the beach was Yamada-sensei who held a tablet in her hands, which she quickly passed to Chifuyu as the [Akatsubaki] finally landed on the ground.  
"P-Please, look at it immediately."  
Taking a look at the image shown on the tablet, Chifuyu's face darkened instantly.  
"Class A Special mission and an urgent request for immediate response."  
"Tha- that's located at the Hawaiian research-"  
"Don't leak information to the students."  
Nodding, Yamada-sensei began to communicate to Chifuyu in sign language, and after a few minutes, Chifuyu suddenly clapped her hands.  
"EVERYONE PAY ATTENTION!" she yelled towards the students as Yamada-sensei moved off.  
"The IS Academy staff will be carrying out a special mission, which means today's testings are cancelled. Every class is to keep their IS and return back to the resort. Everyone is to stay in their own rooms."  
"Huh?"  
"Testings are cancelled then?"  
Several voices could be heard from the students at the sudden unexpected situation, but Chifuyu, somehow more impatient than usual, suddenly yelled out.  
"Everyone is to hurry up and head back! Anyone coming out without permission will be locked up, am I clear?"  
"Y-Yes!"  
Faced with Chifuyu's sudden rage, every student began to move quickly, shutting down and placing the ISes back onto the transports before escaping back to the resort.  
"Personal IS users are to gather! Orimura, Alcott, Bodewig, Huang, Dunois, Blackburns and…. Shinonono!"  
With most of the group already present, the group only had to wait a short while for Rin to arrive, but in that time, Sam, Ichika and Houki had all deactivated their ISes, the units in standby form around their arms, and Tabane had already disappeared.  
"I don't like the looks of this…" he heard Laura mutter.  
_Nor I…_

* * *

"Now, let me explain the situation."  
The eight personal IS users currently in the seaside school sat around the table in the deepest banquet hall of the resort, with Chifuyu standing before them, a giant screen floating behind her. Around them, teachers were working on terminal, tapping away at keyboards as they scanned through the data on their screens.  
"2 Hours ago, a 3rd Generation military use IS developed by Israel and America, named [Silverio Gospel], has gone out of control in the test facility in Hawaii and has escaped the surveillance facility."  
Hearing this, the eight students tensed up slightly, the atmosphere in the room growing more and more electrified with each passing second.  
"Through satellite tracking, we found that the [Gospel] would enter our airspace two kilometers from here in roughly fifty minutes, so the higher ups decided that we'll be the ones dealing with the situation."  
On the screen behind her, an image from a live satellite feed appeared, showing the silver machine moving through the skies at supersonic speeds, and though at this angle its form was unclear, Sam thought he recognized some parts of the suit.  
"Now, moving on to tactics," Chifuyu placed her hands on the table. "The staff members will be using the school's training suits in order to form a perimeter around the mission area. The main operation will be done by personal IS, so anyone with doubts, please raise your hand up."  
Without a moment's hesitation, Cecilia shot her hand up in the air, requesting for the data and specifications of the machine, a request granted by Chifuyu after a word of warning was passed to the students. A moment later, the screen behind Chifuyu shifted from the satellite feed into a screen filled with data of the suit itself, showing schematics of its design as well as statistics on its weapons and capabilities.  
"It's a unique, long ranged type designed to clear areas… It seems like it can launch a full scale assault, just like my IS."  
"Yeah, like mine too… and it seems to have a highly mobile frame… I think it'd outrun my [Stryker]."  
"And not to mention that it has an attack focused frame too… and its overall specs are much better than my [Shenlong]..."  
"It's unique armour since to be tough to handle… My country's sent a few [Revive] defensive and offensive equipment over, but it'd be quite hard to defend and attack against that consecutively, right, Sam?"  
There was no response as the boy continued to stare at the screen.  
"Sam…?"  
No response.  
"Sam…?"  
She noticed that something was wrong with his mannerism- the boy would usually respond to one call unless he was overly focused on something, and even then, only two calls were needed- but before Charlotte could call him again, Laura spoke up.  
"It's got an unknown variety of fighting capabilities, if we're only looking at these figures. Can't we investigate anyway?"  
"Unfortunately not," Yamada replied. "It's still moving at supersonic speeds, and its got a maximum speed of over 2540 km/h, meaning we've only got one shot at this."  
Everyone turned to look at Ichika, even Sam, as the other boy raised both his hands in front of him in a defensive manner, an awkward expression on his face.  
"Ichika, beat it with your [Reiraku Byakuya]," Rin chirped at him.  
"That's a given, but the problem is-"  
"How are we going to get him there?" Laura and Charlotte finished each other's sentences.  
"And catching up to a high speed unit… the hyper-sensors will play a big role here, right?"  
"W-Wait, I'm going?"  
Confused, Ichika finally spoke up, receiving a quick stare from the six girls as they all said in unison- "Of course!"  
Feeling himself cornered, he looked to the boy sitting next to him, only to see him with a look similar to fear and anger on his face as he stared at the screen, one which quickly faded when he noticed Ichika's stare.  
"S-Sam…?"  
"Orimura, this isn't training, it's a real battle so if you're not ready, there's no need to force yourself."  
At his sister's words, Ichika immediately kicked the cowardice inside him and nodded, accepting the responsibility of the mission.  
"Very good," Chifuyu nodded in response. "Now, who amongst you pilots have the fastest speed?"  
"Me-"  
"Me-"  
Both Sam and Cecilia said together, surprise forming on their faces as they looked at each other before Sam nodded a "go-on" towards Cecilia.  
"England had just so happened to send the [Strike Gunner] package for my [Blue Tears], and it just so happens to have a high powered sensor equipped with it as well."  
Smiling, Cecilia looked at Sam in a slightly smug manner, and whether or not she meant that, Sam simply nodded back before speaking up.  
"You've got that, but I've just received a special package upgrade from Dunois' Hydra lab," he began before pulling up a hololithic screen from his unit's standby form. "It's called the [Reaper] and it's essentially a higher output upgrade to the [Shadow's Veil] system and the [Revive]'s systems in general, allowing me to reach supersonic speeds with ease."  
He looked at Charlotte and smiled slightly at her.  
"It seems that technology-wise, the Dunois corporation isn't losing, huh?"  
"Wait… Hydra? Is that system approved by the higher ups?"  
Sam shrugged, thinking about the chances of it not being approved by the rest of the Dunois group.  
"I should think so, or else it wouldn't even be here."  
Nodding her understanding, Charlotte turned her attention back to Chifuyu.  
"And how long have both of you been training in supersonic mode for?"  
"20 hours," Cecilia said.  
"42 hours," Sam said as well.  
A look of utter surprise formed on Cecilia's face as she stared at the boy who simply shrugged back at her.  
"I had a month to get that much time in."  
"W-wait, how long did you train a day?"  
"About… say, five hours?"  
"T-then, doesn't that mean you trained in supersonic almost everyday for more than two weeks?"  
He nodded before turning back to Chifuyu, whose face was deep in thought as behind him, Cecilia's jaw practically dropped to the floor. And his face wasn't his usual cheery face, but one filled with determination and hatred.  
"Nii-chan…?" Stella started, noticing her brother's less than happy face. But she was interrupted by Chifuyu before she could ask him.  
"Well… those times are indeed more than suitable-"  
"HOLD ON~ Stop with that strategy~" an energetic voice suddenly said.  
And from above, Tabane's head appeared from what appeared to be a ventilation shaft in the ceiling, her purple hair dropping down below as she popped her head down into the hall.  
"Yamada-sensei… please escort that person out," Chifuyu sighed as she placed her hand over her face. "Now."  
"Y-Yes… but…"  
She looked up at the head of the scientist as she thought of ways to get her down, but before that could happen, the girl flipped over and landed on the floor with such graceful form, it was almost as if she was a trained circus performer.  
"Chi-chan~ my brain is now printing an even better idea~"  
"Get out…"  
"Listen to me~ This is definitely the time for [Akatsubaki] to show her true abilities~"  
Screens began to appear around Chifuyu, each one showing a different aspect of [Akatsubaki] as she explained what she meant to the teacher, even to the point that the main screen had switched from the specs of the [Gospel] into that of the [Akatsubaki].  
"See here-"  
Before Tabane could continue with whatever she's about to say, Sam suddenly slammed his hands on the table, standing up as he did so. Everyone stared at him in shock at the sudden action, and even Tabane was looking on with a surprised face.  
And without a word, he left.  
"Is he okay?" Chifuyu asked the students after a brief moment of silence.  
The students looked at each other and shrugged, and Chifuyu found herself surprised that not even Stella knew what was going on with her brother.  
"I-I'll go check on him," Charlotte said as she stood up, quickly running towards the direction that the boy went in.  
"I just hope he's fine. Anyway, Tabane, continue."

* * *

"I'll kill that thing myself."  
Walking hastily along the corridors, Sam clenched his fists hard, feeling his nails dig into his skin as he bit his lower lip. His face was filled with hatred and rage, and he knew exactly why.  
The machine that he'd seen on the screen was the same one that appeared in his dreams.  
He increased his pace and turned the corner and onto the soft sand of the beach, walking all the way to the water's edge before stopping himself and taking a deep breath.  
"With the [Reaper] packet, I should at least be able to strike it a few times."  
Raising his left hand, he focused his thoughts on deploying the IS when he felt a familiar presence behind him.  
"Charl…" he softly muttered under his breath.  
"Sam… are you okay?"  
There remained to be no response from the boy.  
"Sam…?"  
Although he tried to ignore her, he simply couldn't and he lowered his hand slowly before turning to face the girl with a rueful smile.  
"Funny isn't it, how dreams can sometimes predict the future?"  
Showing a confused yet surprised face, Charlotte approached the boy, stopping only when she was an arm's length away.  
"What… what do you mean?"  
Sighing, Sam conflicted within himself as to whether or not he should tell the girl about the dream he had- one in which all his comrades die at the hands of the silver machine.  
"Sam…?"  
Unable to bear the worried tone of the girl, he took a deep breath and decided to open up.  
"That machine… I saw it in my dream last night."  
"E-eh…" Charlotte responded as she took a slight step back.  
Sam nodded and continued.  
"It appeared exactly like that… and it…"  
He clenched his fists tight as he looked down, his hair dropping over his face and hiding his eyes as he began to tear up from the memory, the scenes of their deaths unfolding itself once more in his head. He felt Charlotte's hand softly hold on to his as tears began to stream down his cheeks, falling in droplets.  
"Sam, tell me, what happened?"  
He contemplated telling her what happened, but decided to simply summarize ir all.  
"It… It killed everyone…"  
By this time, Sam's tears were flowing and although he tried to suppress it, he couldn't. But he soon found himself blushing as Charlotte suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, slowly stroking his back as she comforted him.  
"It's alright, it's just a dream."  
Still hugging him, Charlotte didn't let go until she felt Sam's breathing recompose itself and his tears had stopped completely, and Charlotte pulled away slightly.  
"Feeling better?"  
He nodded as he turned his head away, hiding his face which was now completely dyed red, but he noticed that the girl's face was red too.  
"A-anyway, we should head back. Tell them what you know of the unit."  
Nodding, Sam followed the girl back to the hall as he tried to calm his wildly beating heart.


	11. Silver Angel of Death: Falling Light

"Then, let's hurry up and get [Akatsubaki] ready!"  
Hearing Tabane's voice, Sam pulled his hand back a fraction of an inch, hesitating just outside the door. He glanced over to his left where Charlotte stood, giving him a reassuring smile before he finally grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. The sight that greeted him was quite an odd one.  
Where Tabane stood, there were four floating objects, all of which looked exactly like the arm of an IS.  
"Ah, you came back~"  
Simply nodding, Sam moved over to one of the terminals a member of staff was working at, requesting that the data of the [Gospel] be pulled up again before whispering to Chifuyu, telling her exactly what he wanted to do.  
"Go ahead," Chifuyu nodded as Sam turned towards the others who were now looking at him with interest- even Tabane.  
"Alright, since you two," Sam began before quickly pointing at Ichika and Houki. "Will be the ones engaging in the operation, there's some things that you'll need to know."  
He looked at the data on screen before turning back to them.  
"As you would probably have known, this thing has an AI in it. But it's still piloted by a human- the AI is merely a support AI that can easily help the pilot take the correct actions in combat, from offense to defense."  
He stared at Ichika before moving on.  
"Which means that you in particular will have to be careful."  
The screen behind him then switched to the weapons and statistic information of the unit.  
"Now, you've all reviewed the data and know that the only weapon that this unit has is its wings right?"  
Everyone around the table nodded.  
"Now if my sources are right, it has a slight charge up time in which it has to open up its wings and prepare the plasma rounds for firing."  
"So you're saying that we should use that chance to close the gap and attack?"  
Sam nodded and continued.  
"Also, it may or may not have a tendency to spin a full three hundred and sixty before firing at the designated target, and its shots have an insane coverage area and can deviate itself to hit the target, so be careful."  
Ichika and Houki nodded their understanding whereas Tabane continued with her setup of [Akatsubaki].  
None of them questioned Sam's sources, instead trusting their friend because of their lack of information.  
"That's all I've got. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."  
With that, Sam moved from the head of the table and sat himself down in a chair.  
"Well at least we've got some knowledge of the enemy's attack s," Ichika said in thanks before he stared at Tabane who was working at an inhuman pace, faster than she should be. He stared at her for a good two minutes before a loud impact was heard.  
"If you've got so much time, go learn from Alcott and Blackburn about how to carry out hi-speed combat… Speaking of which, where is that kid?"  
"Huh? I'm here."  
Looking up from where he had moved to sit down, Sam replied.  
"What is it?"  
"Eh.. well…" Ichika stuttered slowly and gestured for Sam to come closer. "Hey, Cecilia."  
"H-huh? KYAH!"  
Noticing Ichika staring at her face, she dropped the mini-screen she was holding and Ichika barely managed to catch it before it hit the ground.  
"Wh-wh-what's the matter? Is there anything?"  
"Well… Chi- I mean, Orimura-sensei told me to learn from you and Sam how to fight in high-speed battles."  
"I-I see!"  
Cecilia, who looked dejected moments before, suddenly brightened up at the chance to help the boy she liked with her knowledge.  
"W-well… firstly, have you ever used the high-sensitivity hyper sensors yet?"  
"Well… no…"  
"I-I see. I guess I'll start here then. The so-called High-sensitivity Hyper Sensor adjustments in a high speed battle would refer to-"  
"Basically, when using that, you'll feel that the world would slow down… at least at the start."  
"R-Rin-san? I only explained halfway through… Speaking of which, have you participated in high speed battle training before?"  
"12 hours, not as much as you or Sam anyway."  
"A-anyway, the reason that the slow feedback occurs is because-"  
"The hyper sensors transfer a lot of highly detailed data to the pilot's brain at once to sharpen her… well in our case, his, senses."  
"Because of that large amount of data, you would feel as if the world has slowed down, but only at the beginning. You'll get used to it soon."  
"Sam, even Charlotte-san too?"  
"You've gotta be kidding me right? It always feels slow for me!"  
"Well that's just you, nii-chan. Anyway, you should really pay attention to your boost too, Ichika."  
"S-Stella-san?"  
At this point, Cecilia seemed to be at a loss as to what was happening. Almost every one of the personal unit users has interrupted her at one point or another, even the now-cheerful Sam, and she felt that she wasn't getting anywhere with her explanation.  
"Take note of your boost, Ichika, especially when using [Ignition Boost]. The rate it runs out is double than in normal battle situations."  
"And because of your speed, the damage done by incoming shots will be devastating to the point that even one shot can do heavy armour damage, so be careful."  
"Ah.. Laura-san, even Yamada-sensei… AHH WHY MUST EVERYONE INTERRUPT ME!?"  
Finally losing her temper, Cecilia shouted out, and before long, Sam began to snicker softly even as he covered his mouth with his hand. Hearing the snicker, Cecilia gave him a deathly glare.  
"A-ahh… Cecilia…"  
"WHAT?!"  
Still angry, she snapped at Ichika.  
"A-ahh… thanks for teaching me anyway. Just tell me if there's anything else I need to take note of."  
Her face completely changed after hearing Ichika's words, and she suddenly placed her hands on her hips.  
"Huh, yeah, well, this-this is nothing. I'm Cecilia Alcott, the representative candidate of England after all. You can come and approach me if there's something you don't understand."  
"Well, she recovered quickly," Sam whispered to Charlotte who sat beside him, and the two of them laughed slightly at the sight of Cecilia returning back to her self.  
"Well anyway, since you need to beat it with your [Reiraku Byakuya], don't use [Ignition Boost] at all since that'd burn up a lot of energy. Just rely on Houki for movement." Rin said as a final word of advice.  
"Got it."

* * *

Sam looked at the clock on the wall and sighed slightly.  
11:30  
"You two better come back alive. Good luck."  
His IS partially deployed, he contacted the two of them through the IS Core Network.  
"Yeap, got it. We'll get this done for sure," Ichika replied as he nodded back.  
Undeploying the Hyper Sensor unit on his head, Sam turned to look at the screen and hoped for the best.

* * *

"I'll leave it to you then, Houki."  
On the beach, Houki and Ichika stood, facing together in their deployed IS.  
"My pride would naturally prevent any man from mounting atop a woman, but I'll make a special exception this time."  
Nodding, he waited for Houki to offer her back to him before grabbing onto her shoulder, gripping it gently as he waited for Houki to make her move.  
_Is this really alright though?_  
The fact that Houki had gotten her unit barely a day ago worried him to no ends, as no matter how good the unit is or how well it's been optimized, the skill of the pilot is still what plays a major role in battle.  
_I'll have to protect her if anything happens… right?  
_Thinking this, Ichika failed to notice Houki looking over her shoulder at him and almost staggered back from his surprise.  
"What is it? Are you scared?" she asked him in a teasing voice.  
"O-of course not."  
"Haha. Don't worry, I'll get you there safely so just wait alright?"  
Calming himself down, Ichika nodded again.  
"Orimura, Shinonono, can you hear me?" Chifuyu's voice came through the channel.  
"The main emphasis of this mission is to finish it off in one hit. Remember, we've only got a small window to finish this."  
"Got it."  
"Orimura-sensei, I just need to support Ichika according to the situation right?"  
"Right, but don't force yourself. That personal unit hasn't been used in combat, so something might pop up unexpectedly."  
"I understand, I'll provide as much assistance as I can."  
Despite the calm front that she placed, it was clear to Ichika- clear to everyone in the hall in fact- that she was happy, perhaps too happy for her own good.  
"Ikku," Sam's voice came through the channel this time.  
"Y-Yeah? What is it, Sam?"  
"We're on a private channel so Houki can't hear us. Anyway, don't be so nervous and keep an eye out for Houki," Sam said. "She seems a bit too excited."  
"Orimura, listen to what Sam just said. If anything happens, protect her."  
"Understood."  
The next time her voice was heard, it was on the public channel again.  
"Then, begin operation!"  
With Chifuyu's voice signalling the start of the operation, Houki took flight in her [Akatsubaki], reaching up to an altitude of 300 meters in a few seconds.  
"Confirming satellite link… Check," Houki said as she floated in midair, carrying Ichika on her back. "Confirming target location- Ichika, hold on tight!"  
Folding out the armour on her legs and back, Houki zoomed forwards at a rapid pace, the Fold-Out Armour of the unit providing a large amount of thrust as they moved towards the target.  
"I see it, Ichika!"  
Within moments, Ichika could clearly see the figure of the unit through his Hyper Sensors, seeing it as if it were his own. As the name implied, the [Gospel] was covered in silver. A pair of large wings, also covered in silver, extended from behind its head and it carried no weapons in its arms.  
_So… just like Sam said, this thing probably does have a large area of fire if its weapons are its wings.  
_"Making contact with the target in 10 seconds! Get ready Ichika!"  
Standing atop Houki's IS, Ichika gripped his sword with both hands and activated [Reiraku Byakuya], the [Fold-out armor] on the Yukihira folding on itself to unveil a bright blue blade of pure energy.  
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"  
On one, Ichika leapt off Houki's back and activated [Ignition Boost], firing his thrusters as he closed the gap between him and the machine, swinging his blade of light down. However, what was thought to be the impossible happened.  
Just as Ichika's blade was about to make contact with the unit, the [Gospel] twisted away and faced Ichika, narrowly avoiding the blade.  
"Enemy suit confirmed. Switching to combat mode. [Silverio Gospel]: movement start."  
A mechanical voice could be heard over the public channel, one that carried a somewhat antagonistic intent despite its monotone.  
"Ikku, the AI's self defense protocols have been activated. Ready up!"  
Even as Sam's voice came over the channel, Ichika was already on the move, chasing after the silver machine as he swung the blade again and again, but despite his best efforts, the [Gospel] dodged his attacks with perfect precision.  
"Houki, back me up!"  
"Got it!"  
Firing her [Amatsuki] at the [Gospel], Houki watched as Ichika charged towards the IS and swing his blade in a large arc.  
"Ikku! Move out of the way!"  
Attempting to recover from the attack, Ichika heard the warning a bit too late as he saw the wings open up, glowing as it prepared its cannons before firing. The feather-shaped bullets of energy shot out from the [Gospel]'s wings and exploded before making contact, chipping away at Ichika's shields, but the firing rate was what alarmed him the most.  
_What the hell?! This is ridiculous!  
_Breaking off from the [Gospel] and narrowly avoiding a number of the shots, Ichika regrouped with Houki, who stood in the air with her weapons at the ready.  
"Houki! We'll attack from both sides. I'll leave the left to you!"  
"Got it!"  
Engaging their thrusters, both Ichika and Houki moved in in a pincer movement to flank the [Gospel], performing complex evasive maneuvers as they attacked rapidly from both sides, dodging the hail of plasma fired from the [Gospel]'s wings. However, despite their speed, the [Gospel] continued to dance in the air, utilizing its wing thrusters to execute evasions that would otherwise be too difficult for a regular pilot, at the same time counter attacking the two units.  
"I'll stop its movements, Ichika!"  
Attacking quickly, Houki slashed from side to side, activating the [Fold Out Armor] on her suit in conjunction with each attack, relentlessly attacking the [Gospel] without fail as she used [Akatsubaki]'s mobility to her advantage. Both Houki and Ichika attacked simultaneously again, and the [Gospel] avoided their blows, but sensing an opening to attack, it flew up, thrusters blazing, and began to spin.  
"Ikku! Houki! Get ready!"  
Recovering quickly, Ichika barely managed to avoid the hail of rounds that was shot out in all directions by the unit, but he followed up, not with a charge towards the [Gospel] but moving towards the sea below instead.  
"Not bad! But who's shaking you off?"  
Saying this, Houki dodged the rain of bullets coming towards her and fired her thrusters, charging towards the silver suit as she spotted an opening. But as she locked the [Gospel] in place, the suits gripping her blades as it tried to pry itself free, she noticed that Ichika was nowhere to be seen, and nor was he attacking the [Gospel] as was the mission's goal.  
"Ichika!"  
Looking downwards and breaking contact from the machine, Houki saw the flash of white as Ichika moved towards the sea, chasing after a single stray shot from the [Gospel] and cutting it in two.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ICHIKA? THAT WAS A RARE CHANCE!"  
"Dammit! Ikku!"  
With Sam's voice suddenly coming through the channel, Houki quickly disengaged and pulled back to where Ichika floated.  
"There's a boat down there! Damn it! It's an illegal fishing boat!"  
With a slight noise, the energy blade of Ichika's [Yukihira Niigata] faded, the [Fold Out Armor] folding itself back into its [Close Combat Sword] form. The [Byakushiki]'d run out of energy and their only chance of defeating the [Gospel] was gone.  
However.  
"You idiot! Why are you protecting criminals? Couldn't you have just lef-"  
"Houki!"  
Saying the girl's name with as much power as he could muster, he shook her back to her senses. The [Gospel] continued to watch the two's conversation.  
"Houki… don't- don't say such pitiful words… To actually lose sight of the weak after gaining power… What's wrong? That's not like you at all!"  
"I…"  
Unable to say anything, Houki loosened the grip on her weapon, the blades scattering into light particles as she covered her wavering face with her arms.  
_Dammit! That's [Limit Down] isn't it? She's out of power too?  
_Noticing movement from behind Houki, Ichika saw that the [Gospel], who'd been floating in one spot and doing nothing as if listening in on their conversation, spin around again.  
"HOUKI!"  
Screaming her name, Ichika rushed towards the girl, using all the booster energy left in his unit to do one last [Ignition Boost], propelling himself in a straight line towards the girl.  
"Ikku! Don't!"  
Ignoring Sam's voice, he kept on going.  
_Please! Please [Byakushiki]! I have to make it!  
_He knew that an unshielded IS, no matter the generation, would not stand a chance against the [Gospel]'s rapid fire attack when unshielded, and he knew that if Houki was hit, her unit would be destroyed and she would probably die.  
_Please [Byakushiki]! Come on!  
_Pushing his unit to the limit, Ichika rushed between Houki and the silver machine just as the first of the bullets were fired out from its wings, wrapping his arms around the girl as he presented his back to the enemy. A moment later, concussion from the multitudes of explosions spattering against his back brought a sensation of searing agony across his back and he swore that he could hear his bones crack from the impacts. It wasn't long before the shields, then armour were destroyed by the continuous attacks and soon enough, he felt the burning sensation on his skin, but despite that, he still glanced over to his friend, ensuring her safety.  
_Ahh… you're alright… that's great… Hey, you look like you're about to cry… that's not like you…  
_Thinking this, he felt the world turn upside down and instinctively hugged Houki to protect her moments before a jarring impact rattled the entirety of his body. A huge splash was heard alongside the impact and Ichika could only look at the blurred image of the sky.  
Then, he lost consciousness.


	12. Silver Angel of Death: Angel Fall

"Dammit!"  
Slamming his fist into the thick wall beside him, Sam bit his lower lip in an attempt to control his rage.  
"Nii-chan…"  
Behind him, Stella worriedly looked on as the boy continued to slam his fist hard against the wall, grunting in rage as he did so. The clock on the wall showed 4PM, and it had been more than three hours after Ichika and Houki had been recovered from the sea. He knew that Houki was partially to blame for his condition, but he bore no hard feelings to the girl- she was just a beginner in the field of personal units- but he still couldn't get over the fact that something similar to his dream had happened right before him. His friend was in a critical state, barely alive and covered in burns when they had recovered him and they had been told to wait in the resort for further instructions, but what he hated most was how cold Chifuyu had been. He understood that she had to keep a cool head, but the fact that she had done so so well- not even hinting worry at the fact that her brother is on the brink of death- ticked him off.  
"Sam."  
He heard a voice from outside his room's door and took a deep breath.  
"Anyone in there?"  
It was Laura's voice.  
Calming himself down as much as he could, he briskly walked over to the door, sliding it open and nodding at Laura to enter. Behind her, the other girls, save for Houki, followed. Each of them sat themselves down in a circle, looking at each other with looks of worry and sadness, and a heavy atmosphere settled around the room.  
"Listen. We're all worried about him, but sitting around here isn't going to do us any good."  
Breaking the tension, Sam finally spoke up. He remained trying to suppress his anger.  
"It may just be my anger speaking, but for me, what I want to do now is to take that bastard down. I'll go alone if I have to."  
He looked around the little circle as he let his words sink in, and he could see that each of the girls were weighing up their options. It wasn't long before one by one, they came to a decision.  
"Nii-chan, you won't stand a chance alone," Stella was the first to decide.  
"Stella-san's right. Your IS may be fast, but it's not going to be able to dodge all the hits," followed Cecilia  
"And plus, we're doing this for Ichika," and finally, Rin.  
He nodded and looked around at the girls, all of whom gave him a slight nod and a determined smile.  
"I've contacted my unit back in Germany. They're trying to locate the [Gospel] as we speak."  
"Then let's go. One of us will need to get Houki," he said as he stood up. "We'll need all the power we can get, and I'm sure she wants in on this too."  
"I'll go and get her," nodded Rin as she ran out of the room.  
Sam followed suit as the others stood up and quickly dusted themselves off, following him out of the room with Cecilia being the last out.  
"Well we know where Houki is… let's head there and make it quick."  
Breaking into a run, Sam turned the corners of the resort and made it towards the door just as Rin was about to open it. She looked at him for confirmation and he simply nodded before Rin slammed the door open and barged in.  
Pressing his ear against the wall, he listened in on the conversation as the others arrived.  
"-DON'T MESS AROUND WITH ME!"  
It seemed that he'd missed the first part of their conversation as Rin had suddenly raised her voice moments before a muffled reply, followed by the sharp sound of a slap, resounded from the room.  
"You should have something that you have to do now, right? RIGHT? How can you not fight at the time you're needed most?"  
Her voice continued to resound throughout the room. Even without pressing their ears to the wall, the girls could hear what Rin was saying.  
"Are you a coward that can't fight when it's time to fight?"  
Sam knew that with those words, Rin had struck a nerve, and he tentatively pulled back his head from the wall, looking over at Laura who was busy looking at the hololithic display from her IS'arm. He saw her face shift into a smile just as Houki's voice finally came through the walls of the room.  
"What do you want me to do? We don't know where the enemy went! DAMMIT, I WANT TO FIGHT IF I CAN!"  
"Laura, go."  
Sliding the door open, Laura stepped in.  
"We've found the target."  
Following Laura in, Sam saw Rin smiling in their direction with Houki craning her head their direction too.  
"It's appeared more than 30km away, above the sea. It's in stealth mode but it doesn't have Optical Camouflage, so the satellites picked it up."  
"As expected of the German special forces, you really are something."  
"And what about you, are you ready?"  
"Of course! [Shenlong]'s new packet's already been installed. I wanted to ask how the others are doing."  
Right behind them, the three other girls finally stepped into the room.  
"Installation of the [Revive]'s defensive packet's just finished."  
"I'm done with mine too!"  
"[Reaper]'s up and ready to go."  
"And I've got my [Stryker] prepped."  
With all the personal unit pilots gathered, they all turned to look at Houki with a look on their face that said "and what are you going to do?" The black haired girl clenched her fist in a show of determination and stood up, nodding at them.  
"I want to fight. I must fight! And I cannot allow myself to lose now."  
"Then it's decided. Let's begin planning our moves- we can't allow the enemy to win this time."  
"You guys go on ahead. I… I'll be there in a few minutes."  
Sam moved towards Ichika, looking at the prone, bandaged form of his friend, the life support systems connected to his body from several places. Houki and the others stood by the door, looking at him as they waited.  
"Yo, Ikku."  
He knelt down beside his friend's body.  
"I know you can't hear me, but you rest up for now okay?"  
Gently placing his hand on his friend's, he squeezed it slightly.  
"I'll protect them for you, so rest easy."  
Tears finally began to emerge from his eyes and Sam quickly wiped them off.  
"And for sure, I'll take that thing down or die trying."  
Softly putting his fist on his friend's chest, Sam stood up and turned towards the girls, quickly walking towards them with tears barely coming out of his eyes.  
"Then, let's go!"

* * *

The [Gospel] floated at exactly two hundred meters above the sea, its wings curled up defensively over itself like a ball as within, its body curled in on itself in a fetal position. It had been there for the past three or so hours, floating, waiting for its pilot to finally awake. It shuffled slightly as it 'slept', but it wasn't long before it suddenly brought its head up… moments before a supersonic round smashed right into its head. A bloom of fire marked where the round had hit as the shockwaves of an explosion expanded in all directions.  
"Hit confirmed."  
From a distance of five kilometers away, the [Schwarzer Regen] fired again, the recoil barely having any effect on the IS as the PIC took over, dampening the shock of the shot. Unlike its regular form, the [Regen], now installed with the [Panzer Cannon] packet, had not one, but two large railguns attached on each side with four large physical shield covering every angle to provide protection for the pilot. And it continued to fire away as the [Gospel] finally made its move.  
_Enemy closing in… 3000… 2000… Damn, it's faster than I expected.  
_Despite the barrage that Laura was putting up, the [Gospel] twisted and turned as it dodged each round, firing the occasional salvo to destroy the rounds coming towards it, and in a moment, it was within three hundred meters of Laura, stretching its right hand out towards her.  
"Cheh…"  
Due to the heavy recoil of the two railguns, the [Panzer Cannon] packet didn't allow for much mobility, meaning that Laura was unable to dodge the [Gospel]'s high speed attack. Despite all that, she smiled.  
"Cecilia!"  
Barely reacting in time, the [Gospel] raised its other hand up to defend itself from the machine descending from above. The blow sent the silver machine reeling downwards as [Blue Tears] finally levelled itself, its powerful attack doing more than enough to attract the [Gospel]'s attention. Before the [Gospel] could launch a counterattack, Cecilia quickly turned and aimed her large rifle at the unit, firing off several BT rounds as she did so.  
"Enemy B Confirmed. Proceeding with Elimination."  
Dodging Cecilia's attack with ease, the [Gospel] began to move.  
"Too slow!"  
Appearing from behind the [Gospel], Charlotte fired off multiple shots from both shotguns, her [Revive] vectoring in behind the unit as she squeezed the trigger again and again, the force of the impact forcing the unit to stagger. But the unit didn't just float there. It turned and launched a counterattack with its wings, firing off a large salvo of rounds towards the orange machine.  
"Sorry, but this [Garden Curtain] won't be taken down so easily!"  
Saying this, Charlotte moved the combination of physical and energy shields in front of her to block the shots, summoning a gatling cannon to prepare another attack as she defended herself. Soon enough, the [Gospel] began to shift its focus towards Laura, who pulled back whilst firing, and Cecilia, who, using the high mobility granted by the [Strike Gunner] package, repeatedly attacked the [Gospel] from multiple angles, opening itself to Charlotte's attack. The cannon in her hands roared as it let loose a stream of high velocity rounds in the direction of the unit, and as it took blow after blow from all angles, the [Gospel] began to look frantic as it desperately attempted to dodge each round coming towards it.  
"New priority: escape airspace."  
Letting loose a hail of energy bullets in all directions, the [Gospel] turned tail and gunned all its thrusters as it attempted to escape the three girls.  
"Not happening!"  
"DON'T YOU DARE ESCAPE!"  
Simultaneously appearing, Stella, her wings spread in a dazzling show of light, opened fire with her rifle whereas from the sea, the [Akatsubaki] with [Shenlong] riding atop it, burst out.  
"Take it down, Rin!"  
"Got it!"  
Jumping off the [Akatsubaki], Rin engaged her [Shenlong]'s [Avalanche] packet, the four impact cannons blazing away with bullets covered with crimson flames. The amount of shots fired from the [Shenlong]'s Thermal Diffusion Impact Cannons easily matched up to the [Gospel]'s Silver Bell and soon, the figure of the silver machine was lost amid the cloud of smoke.  
"Did we get it?"  
"Not yet!" Sam's voice suddenly cut in through the comms.  
Despite the damage it took from Rin's Impact Cannons, it continued to move unabated as it blew away the smoke with a simple twist of its body.  
"Houki! Behind me!"  
"Rin! Stay still!"  
Wrapping her wings of light around Rin, Stella braced for impact as the light membrane proved its effectiveness as it absorbed the blows from each explosive round.  
"Damn, this [Elder Dragon] packet's got pretty damned good defense!"  
With the barrage continuing, even Charlotte, who had moved in front of Houki to take the blows was finding it difficult to keep up her defense, and one of the physical shields were finally destroyed.  
"Laura! Cecilia! Please?"  
"Got it!"  
With Laura moving in from the left and Cecilia from the right, the [Gospel] soon found itself outflanked as the two girls exchanged fire, trapping the [Gospel] in a field of crossfire between them. In response, it continued to fire as it circled its body around, scattering high explosive plasma in all directions.  
"You wish!"  
Bursting in from above, Sam finally joined the fray. A shadow moving at speeds that even Cecilia's high powered hyper sensor, [Brilliant Clearance], could barely register, he attacked the [Gospel] from multiple angles, using both swords to slash once at each passing, quickly turning and coming back in for another pass, turning into a shadow again and again as he did so. The girls could only stare in wonder as they watch him attack with a ferocity they've never seen before, the [Reaper] packet's upgraded [Shadow Vector] ability turning him into a black blur that moved from one space to another in an extremely small amount of time.  
"Cecilia!"  
Suddenly breaking off from the [Gospel], Sam called out the girl's name, dodging a fist that was meant for his head. The girl responded quickly, gunning the thrusters on her binders as well as the BiTs that floated around her hips, arranged in a skirt-like manner with their barrels sealed to maximize thrust. She flew in a circular pattern around the [Gospel] and opened fire with her rifle, with Laura instantly moving in from the other side again and using both railguns to pour fire onto the enemy.  
"DIE!"  
Screaming her fury, Rin let loose a close ranged volley of shots towards the [Gospel] as she attacked with her blades, targeting the wings attached to the head of the unit. Even through the hail of fire that the [Gospel] put up, she continued to attack until finally, her blade made contact and sheared off one of its wings.  
"Heheh, how's that? Huh…?"  
Using its thrusters to stabilize itself, the [Gospel] quickly twisted and delivered a roundhouse kick towards Rin. The blow connected and the shock caused by the impact forced Rin to fall towards the sea.  
"RIN!"  
Below, Sam quickly moved towards the falling Rin, catching her and stabilizing her flight as he watched Houki hacking away at the [Gospel].  
He gasped at the unexpected happening.  
Above him, the [Gospel] had used its hands to grab both of Houki's swords, pulling them apart and forcing Houki to leave herself exposed, spreading its only remaining wing and charging up a salvo meant for the exposed unit.  
"HOUKI!"  
Gunning his thrusters again, Sam quickly deployed his Twin Dragons, the two sabers appearing in a burst of light, before using [Shadow Vector] to get in close, striking the unit with both swords. The silver machine staggered just as it was about to fire and Houki used this chance to deploy an energy blade on her leg, kicking upwards and using it to slice off the remaining wing of the [Gospel]. Between the loss of its wing and the impact from Sam's blade, the [Gospel] lost all attitude control and fell towards the sea, creating a large splash as it struck the water hard.  
"Houki, you okay?"  
"Y-yeah… did we do it?"  
Her voice shaky, Houki glanced at Sam and offered him a small smile before looking back down towards where the [Gospel] had fallen.  
"I think so," came Laura's voice through the comms.  
However, just as the thought of victory came to their minds, a ball of white light emerged from the sea.  
"W-what?!"  
"Damn it! It's undergoing [Second Shift]!"  
The [Gospel], it's body curled in a fetal position, rose from the sea, a ball of pure white light surrounding it.  
And as if responding to the human presence, it turned its head towards them.  
The pilots all felt a chill run down their spine as the inorganic mask stared at them, releasing an antagonistic intent in their direction before it roared.  
And in moments, it had gotten a hold of Laura's feet.  
"Damn it!"  
Cursing, Laura attempted to counter attack with her energy blades, deploying them on her arms and stabbing forwards at the [Gospel] in a vain struggle.  
"Let go of Laura!"  
Rushing in, Charlotte deployed her close combat dagger, [Bread Cutter] and attempted to attack the silver machine. All the while, wings of pure white light began to grow from where the [Gospel]'s wings had been.  
"What the… Light membrane?" Stella uttered in disbelief as she watched Charlotte's attack being deflected and the wings seemingly embrace Laura.  
"No… NO!"  
Screaming, Sam charged towards the [Gospel] and summoned his sub-machinegun, [Noir], opening fire as he closed the distance.  
But it was already too late.  
The wings had surrounded Laura, and within moments, she was falling.  
"Dammit! LAURA!"  
Shifting focus, Sam began to fly towards the falling figure of Laura.  
BAM!  
A loud bang brought his attention back to the [Gospel] as he saw Charlotte sent flying away, her shotgun blown away with her.  
"CHARLOTTE!"  
"W-What is this? Even if it's for military use, this ability is too abnormal!"  
Shouting her disbelief, Cecilia attempted to pull back and gain some distance to fire her sniper rifle with, as did Stella.  
Their only mistake was going in the same direction.  
"STELLA! CECILIA! SPREAD OUT!"  
But before they could move, the [Gospel] was already bearing down on them, pushing their rifles aside and firing at close range, sending first Cecilia, then Stella, plummeting to the sea below.  
"Damnit…"  
He clutched his head, dropping his weapons as memories of his dream resurfaced. It had been different, but ultimately the same.  
Everyone had fallen.  
"You! You dare do this to my teammates!"  
Hearing Houki's rage-filled scream, Sam looked up again and saw the red figure engage in rapid close combat battle with the [Gospel].  
And he realized that he could still save her.  
"LIKE HELL!"  
Gunning his thrusters, he flew vertically towards the [Gospel] watching as it slowly began to wrap its wings around Houki's unit.  
He knew that her unit had run out of energy.  
And he knew that she would die if she was hit.  
"LIKE HELL I'LL LET YOU! YOU FUCKING DEMON!"  
Screaming his rage, Sam rammed the [Gospel] at such a speed that his shields were lowered drastically. He took advantage of the slight opening and quickly kicked Houki away, watching as she plummeted down to the sea below.  
"At least she'll be safe," he muttered as he felt the vice-like grip of the [Gospel] around his neck. It was right in front of him, and despite the notion of death being close at hand, he smiled.  
"Give me all you've got."

* * *

Falling.  
Houki knew she was falling. She could feel the rush of air around her, whipping past her face and around her body, fluttering her hair here and there. She had waited for the moment of pain, and that pain had come from her gut, as if someone had kicked her there.  
But she hadn't died.  
She opened her eyes by a fraction and looked up, seeing the wings of the [Gospel] close around its prey.  
A black suit.  
_What the…  
_She knew that she should've been the one inside the cocoon of light, and yet, there was a black machine instead.  
_…  
_A moment of realization dawned on her.  
"SAM!"

* * *

Both machines fell to the sea, a blur of red and blue as they travelled through the air.  
The two of them had been powerless against the silver machine, and they knew that they had failed their mission. They both felt their bodies hit the water and was tempted to let the water take them.  
However.  
"At least she'll be safe."  
A soft male voice came in over the comms and both girls opened their eyes. What they saw was the silver machine's wings wrapping around a black figure, a red one falling away from both of them.  
"Nii-chan!"  
Stella uselessly wailed as she activated her began to pull herself from the water, using the PIC to first clear the thrusters before activating them.  
"I-Is that…?"

* * *

_W-what's going on…?  
_Her flight barely stable, Rin watched as the [Gospel] rose from the sea and attacked her friends. The shock from the blow prevented her from doing anything and she could only watch as one by one, her friends fell. She watched as first, Laura and Charlotte were taken down, followed by Cecilia and Stella, and finally, Houki…  
Or so she thought.  
She watched a black shadow fly vertically into the air, colliding with the silver machine before a clear outline of an IS could be seen kicking Houki away.  
And then, the wings wrapped around it.

* * *

"Damnit!"  
Struggling with her controls, Laura continued her plummet to the sea. Everything had taken only a moment, and she hadn't been able to react when the wings wrapped around her, surrounding her in bright white light, and before she knew it, she was falling. She looked up towards the silver machine even as she struggled and saw a streak of orange fly away from it.  
"CHARLOTTE!"  
Moments after that, she saw it take down two more units, one red and one blue, before she felt the impact with the sea. Grunting slightly, she pulled herself up and out of the water just as the [Gospel] wrapped its wings around a black unit, a red unit that Laura quickly identified as the [Akatsubaki] plummeting not far from where it was.  
_A black unit… Sam!_

* * *

She felt the wind whip around her body as she sailed through the air. She knew that her attack had been useless and that she'd been hit hard. Opening her eyes, Charlotte quickly regained control of her [Revive] and checked the shield gauge.  
"Just enough..."  
She was still shaky from the impact, but she wanted to continue fighting, and looking back, there seemed to be a lot more of a fight left.  
However.  
"Sam!"  
She saw the black [Revive] collide with the [Gospel] before kicking the [Akatsubaki] away, and from what she saw, Sam was now taking the place of Houki, taking the blows meant for her. The wings wrapped around the black unit…  
And streaks of red fell from the sky.  
"Don't you dare touch my friends!"  
Its jets screaming, a glowing, white machine came from the clouds, its claws extended as it attacked the [Gospel], distracting the unit and cancelling the attack. She saw the form of the black [Revive] fall through the wings of light that had spread back as the unit released him and rushed forwards.  
"Sam!"

* * *

"Don't you dare touch my friends!"  
Hearing a familiar voice through the comms, Sam's smile faded for a moment before it returned.  
"So, you finally came huh?"  
A jarring impact shook the [Gospel] and it released its grip on his neck, letting the boy go. But despite all that, Sam was barely conscious and could not control his fall.  
"Sam!"  
He heard Charlotte's voice through the comms moments before he felt himself being caught by someone, and opening his eyes, he looked up to see Charlotte.  
"Oh… thanks…"  
The girl heaved a sigh of relief before smiling at him again, stopping her flight and helping the boy stabilize his.  
"Is that… Ichika?"  
The two of them looked up at the white machine that had suddenly disengaged and fly down below them, catching the still falling [Akatsubaki] moments before she hit the water, quickly setting her down on a small patch of land nearby. There was a few moments of peacetime as even the [Gospel] stopped attacking, watching as the two floating [Revives] did nothing and the newly formed [Byakushiki] rested for a moment, exchanging words with Houki.  
"Alright, let's go."  
Flying back up, Ichika immediately resumed engagement with the [Gospel], shifting from attack to defence in an amazing display of power and speed, slashing left and right with his blades as he punched forwards with his claw. Sam could only watch on as he gave himself some time for recovery, letting the pain in his neck subside.  
"What makes you think I'll fall for that?"  
"Take this!"  
Words like those continued to echo around the comms as Ichika engaged the [Gospel] alone. As the pain in Sam's neck disappeared, so did his will to fight rise. He hoped that the rest were fine and that they would recover to support Ichika. And the first to recover was Houki.  
Supporting Ichika with a barrage of fire from her [Amatsuki], Houki continued to fly left and right as the [Gospel] continued to counterattack. For a moment, it stood still with its wings spread, letting loose a hail of fire at the two units, but it soon continued its flight.  
"Charl, let's go."  
Unknowingly calling Charlotte by her nickname, he began to fly up, brandishing his blades as he began to chase after the white and red suits.  
"Yeah."  
Activating her thrusters, Charlotte followed the boy up as above, the [Gospel] was suddenly met with explosive fire.  
"Sorry, recovery took time."  
Ascending from below and regrouping with Ichika and Houki were the trio of Stella, Laura and Cecilia.  
"Laura, Cecilia, Stella," Ichika said each of their names with a tone of relief.  
"Ichika, we'll take care of them."  
Rin's voice was next as she floated up beside them as well, and the final two to arrive, the two [Revives] levelled themselves.  
"There's still enough energy," Charlotte spoke up with a smile. "There's no need to worry about us."  
"Rin, Charlotte, Sam."  
"Thanks for saving my ass back there," was all that Sam could say for the moment.  
Looking into the distance, at the awaiting figure of the [Gospel], Sam grinned as he clashed both swords in his hands, a slightly nostalgic feeling coming over him.  
"Let's finish this shall we?" Sam continued as he twisted both swords, rotating his arm and arcing them in perfect circles before offering the blade's side to Ichika. "Just like that day?"  
"Just like that day."  
Raising his sword in reply, Ichika bumped it with Sam's before flying off, leading the rest of them into battle.  
"Let's go!"


End file.
